Sen. Katie Britt Violated the STOCK Act With Nearly Two-Dozen Late Disclosures

Sen. Katie Britt violated a federal conflicts-of-interest and transparency law by failing to disclose nearly two dozen of her husband’s stock trades, according to a NOTUS review of new congressional financial disclosures.

Britt, a Republican from Alabama, was more than half a year past a 45-day federal deadline for disclosing 16 of her husband’s stock trades and several weeks past the deadline disclosing another six, the disclosures indicate.

Taken together, the stock trades made on behalf of her husband, Wesley Britt, a former National Football League player, are worth between about $22,000 and $330,000. (Federal lawmakers are only required to disclose the values of their trades in broad ranges.)

Wesley Britt’s trades include shares of Amazon.com, Google parent Alphabet, Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Nvidia, UnitedHealth Group, Visa, Walmart, United Parcel Service and the bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. Britt serves on the Senate Banking Committee.

In a statement to NOTUS, Britt’s Senate office blamed her husband’s stock broker for the violation of the STOCK Act, which requires lawmakers to publicly disclose individual stock trades made for themselves, their spouse or their dependent children.

“These individual equity trades were in Mr. Britt’s broker-managed retirement account and made without his knowledge or consent,” Britt spokesperson Grace Evans said in a statement to NOTUS. “The disclosure was filed as soon as Mr. Britt became aware of the trades this month. Additional guardrails have been implemented to prevent this from happening moving forward.”

Evans did not detail what those guardrails entail or say whether Britt supports legislation to bar lawmakers and their families from trading stocks.

Britt’s violation comes at a time when Congress is actively considering several bills that each aim to limit or bar elected officials from buying, selling and in some cases holding individual stocks because of ongoing concerns over insider trading, conflicts of interest and regular violations of the existing Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK, Act.

Earlier this month, the House Administration Committee advanced the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would bar federal lawmakers and their immediate family members from trading individual stocks, to the full House for a potential vote.

Evans, Britt’s spokesperson, did not respond to questions about whether Britt has discussed the late filings with the Senate Ethics Committee, which oversees STOCK Act compliance, or paid a fine, which begins at $200 for a first-time violation.

A Senate Ethics Committee representative could not be reached for comment. But the committee makes clear that lawmakers themselves must ensure STOCK Act compliance.

“Even if you have delegated investment decisions to another individual or entity, you are still required to disclose all reportable investment accounts and underlying assets,” the committee’s financial disclosure guidance reads. “It is your responsibility to monitor your monthly account statements and to timely report your transactions even if you are not making the investment decisions yourself,”

Britt joins dozens of other members of Congress who’ve violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions this decade.

Democrats and Republicans have both routinely broken this law.

Since July, 20 federal lawmakers, including Britt, have reportedly violated the STOCK Act: Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Reps. Linda Sánchez of California, Julia Letlow of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Lisa McClain of Michigan, Pat Ryan of New York, Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Donald Norcross of New Jersey, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Ritchie Torres of New York, Troy Nehls of Texas, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, George Whitesides of California, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Austin Scott of Georgia, Shri Thanedar of Michigan and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Scott Franklin of Florida.

Other members, such as Reps. Cleo Fields of Louisiana and Byron Donalds of Florida, have faced scrutiny for the timing of their personal stock trades.