Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross inaccurately claimed twice in sworn statements to ethics officials that he had divested himself of stocks when he had not, according to a report.
Ross, a former banker, was supposed to sell $15,000 worth of BankUnited, Inc. stock by May 2017, 90 days after he was confirmed by the Senate to join the Trump administration as stipulated by his federal ethics agreement, the Center for Public Integrity reported Wednesday.
Ross reportedly told officials he had done so in a May 2017 transaction report followed by an August 2018 annual financial disclosure document, but in October filed another transaction report stating he had owned the stock until the first of the month.
The 81-year-old Trump official, who Forbes magazine estimates is worth $2.5 billion, told the Washington Examiner the latest October document “corrected an earlier filing,” adding he believed he had sold the stock by the original deadline.
“As I explained in that report: ‘These shares, issued as directors qualifying shares in 2012 were held in book entry form by Bank United’s stock transfer agent. I previously reported selling the shares on May 31st, 2017 based on a mistaken belief that the agent executed my sell order on that date,'” Ross said in a statement also shared with the Center for Public Integrity.
This is not the first time Ross has made false divestiture claims, in some cases with stock valued between $10 million and $50 million. The former acting head of the Office of Government Ethics, David Apol, wrote him a letter in July warning that the breaches to his ethics agreement “created the potential for a serious criminal violation on your part and undermined public confidence.” Apol asked Ross to correct the record in his August annual disclosure efforts.
Senators, one Democratic and one Republican, as well as outside watchdog groups, have called on the Department of Justice and Commerce Department to investigate Ross’ personal financial holdings.
