[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 46 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1611-H1612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION SHOULD INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL INSIDER 
                         TRADING BY CARL ICAHN

  The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, last week I wrote a letter to Jay 
Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking 
him about this guy.
  This is Carl Icahn, the billionaire, financier, and buddy of our 
President Donald Trump.
  It seems that he had a massive amount of stock in a company that 
sells cranes and equipment, which, in case you didn't know, are made of 
a lot of steel. Then all of a sudden, Mr. Icahn sold his position in 
the crane and equipment maker; and 1 week later, his friend, buddy, 
pal, and fellow billionaire, Donald Trump, announced he was proposing 
import tariffs on steel and aluminum.
  Now, we all know what happens to the stock of companies heavily 
dependent on steel and aluminum when the President announces he will 
impose new tariffs. Their stock prices go down a lot.
  So I guess you could say that Carl Icahn was lucky to unload his 
shares, valued at, at least, $31 million, just before the President 
made his announcement, but I suspect that luck had nothing to do with 
it.
  Here is a Trump insider making a gigantic decision on tens of 
millions of dollars, and we are just supposed to believe it is a 
coincidence.
  Sorry, but I am not buying it.
  So I wrote the chairman of the SEC to request that he investigate. I 
have not heard back from him, but I hope after he hears this speech, he 
might have a change of mind.
  In the letter, I said: ``The announcement of tariffs on the heels of 
Mr. Icahn's stock sale is highly suspicious. The close relationship 
between the President and Mr. Icahn adds to the appearance of 
wrongdoing.''
  So I think the SEC has an obligation to investigate, because it looks 
bad. We are talking about the President of the United States, and the 
people have a right to know that things are on the up and up.
  Let's remember that Mr. Icahn left as an adviser to Trump at the 
White House because, we are told, it would raise difficult conflicts of 
interest, and presumably, just like the President, Mr. Icahn was not 
interested in selling off part of his empire just so he could appear 
impartial and demonstrate core integrity to the American people.
  The President, who many of us think is profiting illegally from the 
office--and we have filed Articles of Impeachment because of it--seems 
to attract a lot of people with deep pockets and shallow reserves of 
judgment to his side.
  Mr. Icahn, who was a notorious corporate raider and vulture 
capitalist during the Clinton boom years of the 1990s, appears to me 
and a lot of others to fit this mold.
  If there is nothing to hide in this deal, then the investigation will 
be quick and that will be that, but simply saying this multimillion-
dollar stroke of luck was just a coincidence is not flying; not with 
me, anyway.
  Do you know the rigorous reporting of assets that we as House Members 
have to do to fully disclose our debts and investments?
  And all those disclosures are available to the public, and the press 
goes over them with a fine-tooth comb. Every time a Member of Congress 
buys or sells a security over $1,000, we have to file a form, and then 
that gets shared with the public. And if we are late with the filing of 
the paperwork, we have to pay a fine.
  This may seem burdensome, but the important goal here is transparency 
and to ensure that Members are not using insider information they have 
access to t personally enrich themselves.

  If I was as lucky as Carl Icahn to make a stock trade that my friend 
had the power to tell me the inside information on and it resulted in 
me making millions of dollars or avoiding losing millions of dollars, 
well, let's see, there would be investigative reporters, hearings, an 
Ethics Committee report, maybe even criminal charges. But for Mr. Icahn 
and his buddy, the President, nothing; at least not yet.
  Let's demand that the friends who circle the White House and the 
Trump businesses provide the American people with answers and 
transparency. That is all we ask so that we can have greater confidence 
in our President and his family that they are not running a kleptocracy 
like we see in Russia, where those who govern are simply governing to 
make money.
  Mr. Speaker, no tax returns; very little in the way of disclosure; 
recusals that don't seem to actually be recusals; hotel and business 
conflicts of interest; and the strong odor of something fishy;

[[Page H1612]]

those close to the President who are making millions, apparently 
because of the proximity to the President; those people demand scrutiny 
from watchdog agencies; and, in this case, it requires an investigation 
of Carl Icahn by the SEC.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record my letter to the Honorable Jay 
Clayton, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 
of last week.

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                    Washington, DC, March 8, 2018.
     Hon. Jay Clayton,
     Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Clayton: I write to request that you and your 
     agency immediately investigate possible illegal insider 
     trading by Mr. Carl Icahn, a longtime friend of President 
     Donald Trump, who according to his SEC filings sold $31.3 
     million worth of stock in a company heavily dependent on 
     steel just days before the President announced plans to 
     impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum.
       According to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 
     filings submitted in February, Mr. Icahn disclosed that he 
     sold nearly 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company, Inc., 
     which is heavily dependent on steel to manufacture cranes and 
     lifts. Approximately seven days later, his good friend 
     President Trump announced plans to impose steep tariffs on 
     steel imports. On that news, Manitowoc stock plunged and lost 
     6% of its value, but Mr. Icahn had already cashed out.
       The announcement of tariffs on the heels of Mr. Icahn's 
     stock sale is highly suspicious. The close relationship 
     between the President and Mr. Icahn adds to the appearance of 
     wrongdoing. This is also not the first time Mr. Icahn has 
     been suspected of using his relationship with the President 
     for his personal benefit. It was widely reported that Mr. 
     Icahn stepped down from his role as ``special adviser'' to 
     the President because of potential conflicts of interest.
       As a member of the House of Representatives I am required 
     to report my assets and liabilities yearly and to report 
     within 30 days of a transaction any securities I buy or sell. 
     The purpose of these rules is to ensure transparency and to 
     help prevent personal profiteering from insider information 
     that Members of Congress may have access to while serving. In 
     other words, if I were to dump a stock a week before Congress 
     took action that would impact that stock's price, I would 
     most certainly be investigated resulting in possible 
     sanctions, removal from office or jail time.
       It is hard to believe Mr. Icahn's actions with regard to 
     unloading voluminous shares of Manitowoc stock right before 
     the President's is just a coincidence. It undoubtedly 
     warrants a federal investigation. Thank you for your 
     attention in this matter and I look forward to your agency 
     taking swift action and your response to this request. To 
     contact me about this request, please call me at my 
     Washington DC office.
           Sincerely,
                                                Luis V. Gutierrez,
                                               Member of Congress.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marshall). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.

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