William A. Jacobson
Legal Insurrection
8/13/2012
Paul Ryan falsely was accused today by left-wing bloggers, most notably Matthew Yglesias (formerly of Think Progress now of Slate), of insider trading based on confidential information provided by the Treasury Secretary to Congress on September 18, 2008.
That day, Ryan traded Citigroup stock.
The accusation fell apart when someone noticed that the congressional meeting was in the evening of September 18, after the markets closed and Ryan already had completed his trades. Yglesias issued a retraction, and even New York Magazine defended Ryan on the charge of insider trading (which at the time would have been legal for members of Congress).
If Yglesias and the rest of the left-blogosphere want to chase someone for insider trading based solely on the timing of trades around the September 18 congressional briefing, then they need look no further than their hero Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), as I detailed on November 19, 2011, Sheldon Whitehouse, luckiest investor in America?
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who has been vicious in his attacks on opponents of Obamacare, is accused of insider trading in the days before the October 2008 market crash:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island also made a flurry of trades in the days after the Paulson-Bernanke meeting with legislators.
At minimum, Whitehouse sold $250,000 in the stocks below between September 18-24, 2008. He may have sold as much as $600,000 in the stock below according to disclosures.
The article continues, with audio of another Peter Schweizer interview, at Legal Insurrection.
Update: Corrections: Ryan did not vote to ban abortion in all cases nor did he engage in insider trading
