Rep. Bachus Subject Of Insider Trading Probe?

A leading Republican Congressman, Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, is apparently being investigated for possibly violating existing insider trading rules, according to a report by Scott Higham and Dan Keating in today’s Washington Post. The reported investigation, by the Office of Congressional Ethics, seems to be the first ever insider trading investigation of a member of Congress. 

The Post article comes a day after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the STOCK Act to ban insider trading by members of the Congress and their staffs. The investigation of Rep. Bachus, the Post reports, was instigated by a 60 Minutes story about alleged insider trading by members of Congress, which itself was prompted by a book by Peter Schweizer entitled, “Throw Them All Out.”