A US lawmaker who has long campaigned against congressional stock trading is among the nearly one-in-five in the Senate who own or likely own chunks of Apple stock – and watchdogs warn the conflicts of interest could derail major legislation aimed at reining in the Big Tech firm’s anticompetitive practices.
Sen. John Ossoff (D-Ga.) – who famously ripped his Republican opponent David Perdue as a “crook” over his personal stock trades during his successful bid for the Senate in 2020 – has portrayed himself as a champion of the movement to ban congressional stock trading.
The Georgia Democrat co-sponsors a bill that would ban members of Congress their spouses or children from trading stocks while in office and require them to place pre-existing assets into a blind trust – or divest them entirely.
However, Ossoff himself owned between $1 million and $5 million in Apple stock prior to setting up his own blind trust in early 2021 – and is likely still a shareholder, even while sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee responsible for regulating the company.
The issue is getting a fresh spotlight as advocates push for Congressional leadership to reintroduce the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) – two long-stalled bipartisan bills would impose add new restrictions on how Apple and Google operate their controversial app stores.
Both bills advanced out of committee in 2022, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer never brought them up for a full floor vote.
In both instances, Ossoff voted in favor of advancing the legislation. But behind closed doors, the Georgia Democrat pushed back and raised concerns about the bills, such as the potential harmful effects they could have for user security and data privacy, a source familiar with the process that year said.
While Ossoff is well-known on the Hill as a user privacy advocate, his stance also happened to align with Apple’s arguments against the legislation.
“Having to deal with a senator who regularly repeated Apple talking points – as if it wasn’t obvious they were Apple talking points – was bad enough,” the source said. “But it was even worse that in all likelihood he owned millions of dollars in Apple stock as he was doing it.”
Ossoff only got on board for the votes after some arm-twisting by the bills’ supporters, the source said.
“Ossoff is a walking embodiment of why his bill is weak,” the source added. “His Apple stock demonstrates it.”
When reached for comment, an Ossoff spokesperson declined to comment on the status of his Apple stake, citing the blind trust, and called criticism “laughable” given his public support for reform.
“As first reported by the New York Post, Sen. Ossoff authored the leading legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Sen. Ossoff is one of just six senators who has put his stocks in a qualified blind trust, which the Senate Ethics Committee calls ‘the most comprehensive approach’ to ‘eliminate conflicts of interests.’”
“As for the policy, Sen. Ossoff will ask tech companies tough questions on privacy, security, and competition — as he has throughout his tenure,” the spokesperson added. “He will continue thoroughly vetting all proposed legislation.”
The terms of Ossoff’s blind trust require that his trustee disclose if the Apple stake or any other stock has been completely sold off or if its value has fallen below $1,000….
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