Trump leverages ambiguous sectors for self-enrichment in business dealings
In the 100-day mark of Trump's presidency, he's under fire from the Democratic party for allegedly engaging in sketchy dealings. The controversy stems from a post on Truth Social, announcing it was a "great time to buy" stocks, just four hours before declaring a 90-day pause on the tariffs he imposed.
Filipe Garcia, the new president of IMF - Information Markets Finance, isn't so sure Trump's actions amount to a crime. According to Garcia, insider trading involves trading stocks based on info that isn't yet public, but that the trader has inside knowledge of. In this case, Trump didn't keep the details a secret; he shouted them from the rooftops.
The markets were tumbling before Trump's announcement, but they soared exponentially afterward. Trump, it seems, had a knack for picking winning stocks. But for insider trading to occur, there needs to be a transaction. Buying or selling before a title with privileged info that's not yet public. In Trump's case, he shared the information with the public, making everything a bit... murky.
Instead of insider trading, Garcia reckons the most obvious accusation would be market manipulation. manipulating markets by putting info in the public domain and not in a restricted way.
To be fair, the serious accusations are more about Trump's involvement in cryptoassets (digital assets) through Trump Media, and then promoting laws that benefit businesses in which he's already involved. That's pretty much the definition of a conflict of interest, if you ask me.
Trump's got a taste for elections, so he's campaigning for the 2024 presidency. During his campaign, he's shown support for the crypto asset market. But, as a specialist like Garcia would say, there's another gray area here: Trump and his family are involved in the crypto market themselves.
Some Democrats, like Senator Adam Schiff, are demanding an investigation into Trump. Schiff thinks Trump's actions may have created dangerous opportunities for insider trading or manipulation. Another senator, Chris Murphy, says a scandal is brewing.
The Republican congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, admitted she bought stocks like Amazon and Apple during the volatile market period, which subsequently saw gains of 12% and 15%, respectively.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York and a prominent member of the "Fight the Oligarchy" movement, called for all members of Congress to disclose their stock trades within 24 hours following Trump's announcement. But that didn't happen, despite a deadline for congress members to disclose their stock investments on May 15.
In essence, the market manipulation allegations against Trump dominate because his public post and tariff decision directly influenced trading activity, while insider trading lacks evidence of secret info sharing. It's a sticky wicket, alright.
- Filipe Garcia, the new president of IMF - Information Markets Finance, believes that Trump's actions might be better classified as market manipulation, not insider trading, as he openly shared the information with the public.
- Trump's actions are under scrutiny for potential market manipulation, as he publicly announced a drop in tariffs and saw significant stock market gains shortly afterward.
- In contrast to the market manipulation allegations, Garcia suggests that insider trading accusations against Trump are less concrete, as there seems to be a lack of evidence regarding secret info sharing.
- The center of the serious accusations against Trump is not so much his actions regarding stocks but his involvement in cryptoassets through Trump Media and promoting laws that benefit businesses in which he's already involved.
- Some Members of Congress, like Ocasio-Cortez from New York, are pushing for increased transparency, calling for all members to disclose their stock trades within 24 hours following any significant market-influencing announcements, following Trump's example.
