- The House Ethics Committee released a report regarding its investigation into George Santos.
- Included in its hundreds of pages of evidence are documents showing stocks Santos once traded.
It appears that embattled GOP Rep. George Santos bought and sold meme stocks in early 2021.
Santos' apparent trades were revealed amidst the hundreds of pages of evidence released on Thursday by the House Ethics Committee from its investigation into Santos that concluded his "conduct warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House."
Buried in "Exhibit 58" of the committee's "Appendix D Part 5" is a selection of tens of thousands of dollars worth of GameStop and AMC Entertainment stock trades Santos reported making in 2021.
It's not known if the listed trades published by the Ethics Committee encompass the entirety of Santos' trading history at the time, meaning it's unclear if he ultimately profited or suffered losses from jumping into the craze at the time to trade the trendy stocks.
In early 2021, hobby stock traders from the "WallStreetBets" subreddit purchased stocks in GameStop en masse after learning investors had begun to short it. Many traders from the subreddit also invested heavily in AMC at the time as well.
In just a few months, AMC's stock jumped from just over $8 at the start of 2021 to $230 just six months later. Similarly around that same time frame, GameStop's stock value increased from around $4 to peaking at $81.
While not illegal, trading meme stocks are generally perceived as highly volatile and risky given its hype is typically associated with a social media craze rather than the company's actual performance.
The tranche of documents released on Thursday also revealed he spent campaign money on OnlyFans, Botox, and Hermes while an associate of his privately fretted with a congressional staffer regarding a company's decision to sell bobbleheads commemorating the congressman's many fibs.
Following the Ethics Committee's report dropping on Thursday, Santos announced he no longer has plans to run for reelection to protect his family's privacy.