S5221-119

What This Bill Does

The Stop Corrupt Trading Act adds a federal offense covering the sale, purchase, or exchange for financial benefit of nonpublic information obtained through the official position of the President or Vice President. It applies directly to either officeholder and to entities the officeholder or an immediate family member controls, as well as entities in which the officeholder owns at least 5 percent of equity, profits, or revenue interests. It also reaches any other person who buys, sells, acquires, or exchanges the information.

Covered information includes material that the President or Vice President knows or reasonably should know is not public, such as information protected from disclosure, designated confidential, or not authorized for public release. It also includes statements or communications distributed through an application programming interface or another channel on terms not equally available to the general public.

A covered officeholder or affiliated entity may face a fine up to twice the transaction value and imprisonment for up to five years; other participants may face a fine up to twice the transaction value. Conviction requires forfeiture of property constituting or derived from proceeds. Separately, the Attorney General may seek disgorgement, a civil penalty of the greater of $250,000 or three times the gain or payment per violation, injunctions, and a constructive trust. Covered entities and people knowingly providing value are jointly and severally liable. Civil actions generally have a six-year limitations period, tolled while a defendant or the officeholder from whose position the information came remains President or Vice President.

The Office of Government Ethics must refer credible evidence to the Attorney General and notify the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Civil enforcement does not depend on a criminal prosecution, and the government must prove a civil violation by a preponderance of the evidence.

Who Benefits and How

The United States public benefits from a direct deterrent against monetizing confidential presidential or vice-presidential information. Federal taxpayers and the Treasury benefit through mandatory forfeiture, disgorgement, fines, and civil penalties when violations are proven. The Department of Justice gains express civil enforcement tools, while the Office of Government Ethics gains a defined referral channel. House and Senate Judiciary Committees receive notice of credible cases for oversight. Market participants without privileged access benefit from reducing unequal commercial access to official information.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The President, Vice President, and covered family-controlled or substantially owned entities are prohibited from selling official nonpublic information and face criminal punishment, forfeiture, and civil recovery. Buyers, sellers, intermediaries, and anyone knowingly providing value face transaction bans and potential joint liability. Businesses dealing with an officeholder-affiliated entity must assess whether information and payments are covered, increasing legal and compliance risk. DOJ prosecutors, civil litigators, courts, and OGE staff must investigate, refer, litigate, and administer the new regime.

Key Provisions

• Defines covered officeholders, affiliated entities, and official nonpublic information, including unequal API access.
• Prohibits transactions that buy, sell, acquire, or exchange covered information for financial benefit.
• Establishes fines, imprisonment, mandatory criminal forfeiture, disgorgement, civil penalties, injunctions, and constructive trusts.
• Extends joint and several liability to covered entities and people knowingly providing value.
• Requires OGE referrals to DOJ and notice to both congressional Judiciary Committees.