A freshman Republican congressman made millions of dollars in personal stock trades as financial markets plunged during the days immediately following President Donald Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff binge, according to a NOTUS review of new congressional records.
Rep. Jefferson Shreve of Indiana, one of Congress’ wealthiest members, made more than 140 individual stock purchases and sales between April 7 and April 17 — some of them in companies that fall within the jurisdiction of one of his committees, the records indicate.
Shreve traded between $3.44 million and $9.45 million worth of stocks in that April period, according to a NOTUS analysis of the documents. (Federal lawmakers are only required to disclose trade values in broad ranges.)
Shreve made them at a moment when Capitol Hill lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats alike — are increasingly warming to bills that would ban or otherwise limit members of Congress from trading individual equities and even cryptocurrencies.
Shreve, a member of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, bought or sold shares in several companies that land squarely within the committee’s jurisdiction of “all modes of transportation: aviation, maritime and waterborne transportation, highways, bridges, mass transit, and railroads.”
Among them: He bought up to $50,000 each in shares in rideshare company Uber, trucking and logistics services company Schneider National and railroad giant CSX.
He sold up to $50,000 each in shares in GE Aerospace, motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, cruise line Carnival Corporation, rail company Norfolk Southern and marine recreation outfit Brunswick Corporation.
Shreve also sold up to $50,000 worth of shares in industrial conglomerate Honeywell, which runs a large transportation and logistics operation, and both bought and sold between $65,000 and $150,000 worth of shares in package shipper UPS.
In an emailed statement to NOTUS, Shreve spokesperson Hannah Benfield said, “Congressman Shreve relies on a financial advisor to conduct trades. He hired a professional to ensure compliance with all transaction reporting requirements for members of Congress.”
Shreve’s office did not respond to a series of specific questions about the congressman’s stock transactions, which in part inquired about the congressman’s financial adviser and the potential for conflicts of interest from trading transportation stocks.
Also left unanswered by Shreve’s office: Whether the congressman supports any of the measures introduced this year in Congress to ban or otherwise limit federal lawmakers and their immediate families from buying and selling individual stocks.
“This is a case study of a glaring example of why it’s preposterous for members of Congress to trade stocks,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of government affairs for nonprofit watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. “We don’t know what he knows and when he knew it or what he told his financial adviser.”
At least some of Shreve’s stock purchases have proven lucrative: Through Monday, CSX’s share price has increased more than 9% since Shreve bought his stock. Schneider National increased more than 16% and Uber increased more than 34% since the lawmaker purchased shares.
Shreve’s largest stock trades last month include shares of Microsoft (between $250,000 and $500,000), Facebook parent company Meta ($115,000 to $300,000), Apple (between $100,000 to $250,000) and tax software company Intuit ($100,000 to $250,000).
Intuit — maker of TurboTax software — has waged a decades-long lobbying campaign to keep the government from offering free and simplified tax-filing software. ProPublica reported that the Federal Trade Commission last year ordered Intuit to cease a “deceptive ad campaign” it described as “broad, enduring, and willful.”
Shreve — whose congressional district includes a portion of Indianapolis, Indianapolis’ southern and eastern suburbs and more rural land eastward to the Ohio state line — sold his Storage Express self-storage company to Extra Space Storage Inc. for $590 million in 2022.
A certified congressional candidate financial disclosure report Shreve submitted in April 2024 details personal wealth that soars well into nine figures.
The filing also indicates that Shreve owned little common stock at the time — save for a massive holding of Extra Space Storage Inc. stock valued at more than $50 million — with most of his assets concentrated in other financial vehicles, from life insurance to annuities to real estate. (Shreve requested, and received, an extension on filing his 2025 annual financial disclosure, which is now due in August.)
But separate congressional records indicate that Shreve has gone on a stock-trading spree during his first four months in Congress: He made more than 320 stock purchases, sales and exchanges between mid-January and mid-April.
That’s not far off the pace set by freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, whose prolific stock-trading habits during early 2025 were highlighted in a profile last month in the New York Times.
By law, members of Congress are allowed to buy and sell individual stocks so long as they don’t violate insider trading rules baked into the existing Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012.
But during the past several years, dozens of members of Congress have made stock trades that included issues related to their committee work, and dozens more lawmakers have overtly violated the STOCK Act’s transparency and disclosure provisions.
Among the most recent STOCK Act disclosure scofflaws are Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, and Republican Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida.
Raskin’s office said the congressman — a three-time STOCK Act violator — wasn’t initially aware his stock got sold. Dunn’s office said the congressman’s stock adviser was responsible. Evans’ office did not respond to questions.
Last week, Democrats used a Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee hearing to accuse Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia of insider trading for a series of stock trades she made in early April, around the same time Shreve made his trades. Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida has also faced scrutiny for his stock trades in early April.
Greene has put her stock-trade onus on her stock portfolio manager, telling the Georgia Record, “I don’t place my buys myself.” Moskowitz’s office told Business Insider that the congressman’s stock trades are “managed by an outside third-party financial advisor.”
In recent weeks, two members of Congress — Democratic Reps. Greg Landsman of Ohio and George Whitesides of California — confirmed they’ve voluntarily quit trading individual stocks in the name of avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest.
“People see a system is broken, and then they see members buying and selling stocks and getting rich, and they think, ‘Well, I can’t trust them,’” Landsman told the Dayton Daily News.
One government reform advocate said Congress must rethink its approach to policing the personal financial interests of public officials in an effort to curb conflicts.
“You have to say enough is enough — and the public has to say it, and elected officials have to say it,” said Alan S. Davis, chairman of the Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for policies that combat “excessive wealth” and “compulsive greed.”
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Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.