Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, lost nearly $300,000 when he permitted stock call options in the online gaming company Roblox to expire, according to a recent congressional disclosure report examined by Raw Story.
The disclosure paper, which the former speaker digitally signed on January 25, states that “100 call options purchased on December 20, 21, with a strike price of $100 and an expiration date of January 20, 23, expired with no value, for a total loss of $303,001.” A unique kind of stock option contract called a “call option” gives the buyer the right to acquire stock at a certain price up until a particular date.
The significant stock holdings of Paul Pelosi were described in a Business Insider piece from the previous year. In addition to investments in a number of other firms, including Apple, Microsoft, Disney, Tesla, Salesforce, Slack, and PayPal, it also marked the call options for Roblox. At least some of these companies had business before Congress.
Not only did the Pelosis lose money on their investment in Roblox, but also on their shares in Tesla when Elon Musk’s antics on Twitter impacted the stock price of his principal company.
The STOCK Act requires members of Congress to disclose all of their individual stock trades in order to prevent insider trading, despite the fact that many lawmakers from both parties have broken this rule. Members of Congress are frequently in the unique position of regulating companies in which they may own stock.
Bipartisan debate is intense on whether to go even further and forbid members of Congress and their families from directly trading individual stocks, restricting them to index funds and blind trusts instead to minimize potential conflicts of interest.
Pelosi, whose family has a significant stake in these transactions, initially rejected this concept in 2021 but, after much hesitation, this February resolved to endorse a stock trading ban and proposed consensus legislation on the subject in September.
However, no vote was ever held or even scheduled, leading some observers to assume that she waited until the Republicans took control of the House in order to enact it.
The initiative has received some Republican backing as well. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced his own version of a prohibition in the Senate, which he calls the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, and newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promised last year to support such legislation in a GOP House.
