A Michigan Republican Violated the STOCK Act With Late Disclosures

In early 2025, Rep. Tim Walberg purchased more than a dozen stocks, including shares of defense contractors and fossil fuel companies that spend millions of dollars each year attempting to shape federal policies.

Walberg (R-Michigan) didn’t disclose these purchases until June 3 — more than 14 months after a federal deadline for doing so, according to a NOTUS review of congressional financial documents.

The nine-term congressman becomes the latest member of Congress — and the third this week — to violate the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act’s disclosure provisions. The growing list of violators comes at a time when some federal lawmakers are agitating to ban congressional stock trading altogether because of insider trading concerns and habitual transparency failures.

Walberg’s tardy disclosure form indicates he purchased between $154,014 and $560,000, worth of stock on Feb. 7, 2025.

Among the companies he invested in: defense contractors Boeing, L3Harris Technologies and Lockheed Martin, and fossil fuel companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil.

Walberg serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources, the jurisdiction of which includes “petroleum conservation on public lands” and the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline.

Walberg spokesperson Molly Makarewicz told NOTUS that the congressman’s financial portfolio is “independently managed” by a financial adviser.

“While filing the annual disclosure, it became apparent that the financial administrator had executed trades, without communicating with or notifying Congressman Walberg,” Makarewicz said. “Since then, all of the necessary paperwork related to the financial advisor’s management of the account has been filed, and the Congressman is in full compliance with all requirements.”

Congress itself makes no legal distinction between a federal lawmaker personally executing a financial trade and a financial adviser or broker executing a trade on the lawmaker’s behalf. It puts the onus of STOCK Act compliance squarely on the member.

“You are personally responsible for incomplete and inaccurate information contained in your [financial reports], regardless of who assisted in preparation,” according to the House Committee on Ethics.

Makarewicz did not answer questions about who Walberg’s financial adviser is, whether the congressman believes his stock holdings represent a conflict of interest or if he has contacted the House Ethics Committee or paid a standard $200 fine for violating the STOCK Act’s disclosure deadline.

She also did not respond to a question about where Walberg stands on efforts within Congress — including the Republican House leadership-backed Stop Insider Trading Act — to ban members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from trading individual stocks.

This week, NOTUS reported that Reps. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) and Daniel Webster (R-Florida) violated the STOCK Act by failing to properly disclose their stock trades. They join more than two dozen federal lawmakers who have reportedly violated the act during the past 12 months.

They include then-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) and Sens. Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania).

In the House, STOCK Act violators include Reps. Linda Sánchez (D-California), Julia Letlow (R-Louisiana), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Lisa McClain (R-Michigan), Pat Ryan (D-New York), Sheri Biggs (R-South Carolina), Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey), Rich McCormick (R-Georgia), Ritchie Torres (D-New York), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania), Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois), George Whitesides (D-California), Val Hoyle (D-Oregon), Austin Scott (R-Georgia), Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), Kelly Morrison (D-Minnesota), Ed Case (D-Hawaii) and Scott Franklin (R-Florida). Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma) was also late, although his office denies it.

Other members — such as Reps. Cleo Fields (D-Louisiana), Dave Taylor (R-Ohio), Tim Moore (R-North Carolina), Byron Donalds (R-Florida) and Morrison — have reported making personal financial trades with notably political timing.