Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sold more than $500,000 worth of Visa stock just under three months before the credit card giant was hit with federal antitrust charges, according to public records.
The charges, filed on Tuesday, accuse Visa of illegally dominating the debit card market following a lengthy investigation by the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
According to court documents, Visa allegedly leveraged its market power to impose penalties on customers and merchants who opted for other payment processing options.
In addition, the lawsuit claims that Visa coerced financial technology companies into working with them by threatening penalties for those who chose not to cooperate.
Christopher Josephs, the tech entrepreneur behind the “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” on X, shared a screenshot of a congressional filing on July 3. It indicated that Paul Pelosi had sold 2,000 shares of Visa, valued between $500,000 and $1 million.
The disclosure document noted the transaction was listed under “SP,” which refers to the sale being made by the spouse of the former speaker, Paul Pelosi, a venture capitalist and real estate investor based in San Francisco.
When Paul Pelosi sold the Visa shares, there was no public indication that a government lawsuit was on the horizon. Following the news of the legal action, Visa’s stock fell 5.5%, closing at $272.78.
In July, the “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” account reported Paul Pelosi’s Visa stock sale.
“Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi told The NY Post.
Despite this, critics argue that Nancy Pelosi’s position in Washington may give her access to confidential market-related information.
“At various critical inflection points in history, members of our government have engaged in trading at a time which their conflicts are called into question,” Ron Geffner, a former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney, told The Post.
Geffner cautioned against jumping to conclusions, suggesting the situation be fully assessed.
“Before public opinion judges Pelosi unfairly, it is important to determine who engaged in the transaction on her behalf as well as whether it was part of a broader change of her portfolio,” he added.
The July 3 filing also revealed Paul Pelosi sold 2,500 shares of Tesla and, around the same time, purchased stock in Nvidia and Broadcom.
Nancy Pelosi, though no longer House Speaker, remains an influential figure in the Democratic Party. Her wealth, largely tied to her and her husband’s extensive stock and investment portfolio, exceeds nine figures.
For years, Pelosi has resisted pressure from a bipartisan group of lawmakers seeking to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks due to potential conflicts of interest.
In 2021, Visa disclosed in regulatory filings that the Justice Department’s antitrust unit had requested information on possible violations related to competitive market practices, as reported by the Financial Times.
Federal antitrust authorities are said to be examining Visa’s relationships with companies like Square, Stripe, and PayPal.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is investigating whether Visa provided financial incentives to these firms to discourage the use of competing payment processors.
The investigation reportedly focuses on whether Visa pressured PayPal to encourage customers to use Visa-branded cards for transactions.
In another allegation, Visa is said to have offered reduced fees and other incentives to Square’s Cash App, but only if it directed customers toward Visa-branded transactions.
Visa confirmed that it had been asked to provide details about its business practices related to debit cards in the U.S.
“We believe Visa’s US debit practices are in compliance with applicable laws,” the company stated.
Last year, Visa disclosed that federal prosecutors had requested additional documentation as part of the ongoing investigation.
The company also affirmed that it was fully cooperating with authorities throughout the investigation.
{Matzav.com}