Rep. Greg Landsman (D., Ohio) has spent years pushing government ethics reforms and demanding more financial transparency from public officials. But the congressman failed to disclose his own transactions for months—a violation of the STOCK Act, a campaign finance expert told the Washington Free Beacon.
As a Cincinnati city councilman, Landsman introduced reforms "aimed at restoring public trust in government," such as an ethics commission "tasked with local reporting of financial disclosure forms" and investigating complaints, CityBeat reported in 2020. He continued his ethics crusade after winning a House seat, claiming this month in a reelection ad that "members of Congress are using insider information to get rich trading stocks. That's crazy."
But Landsman filed a required disclosure form in August showing that he failed to report more than 87 financial transactions within the legally required timeframe. That failure, according to Craig Holman, an ethics lobbyist with the progressive think tank Public Citizen, is a violation of the STOCK Act, a 2012 law intended to combat insider trading through financial transparency. The August disclosure also showed Landsman held shares in oil and pharmaceutical companies—industries he’s railed against.
"Rep. Landsman is required to file a periodic transaction report no later than 45 days after each transaction," Craig Holman told the Free Beacon. The majority of Landsman’s transactions, 63, were from 2023, with 19 dating back to January that year. Each violation carries a $200 penalty.
Holman noted, however, that "it is not uncommon for a freshman member of Congress to file late reports, often because they are unfamiliar with the disclosure requirement." As long as the failure isn’t deliberate, "the congressional ethics committee is quite lenient on issuing penalties, as long as the member of Congress eventually discloses the transaction," he said.
Landsman spokeswoman Alexa Helwig told the Free Beacon that "as soon as Greg learned of the transactions, he immediately reported them." She did not explain why there was a delay in Landsman’s reporting.
Still, the Democrat’s failure stands at odds with his aggressive advocacy for financial transparency for government officials. In 2020, then-councilman Landsman pushed several local reforms following Cincinnati corruption scandals. In addition to the ethics commission, he proposed hiring a chief ethics officer and creating mechanisms to punish or even remove officials who violate campaign finance rules.
"We need people to know that this is a highly effective government, one that is fair, and one that people can trust. We also need good people in public service to stay, and for good people considering public service to join what I believe to be incredibly important and noble work," Landsman told CityBeat at the time.
In his September reelection ad, Landsman called Washington "a mess."
"I don't take corporate PAC money because I want you to know I'm with you and not billionaires," Landsman said.
His belated financial disclosure, meanwhile, showed he held shares in some of the most profitable companies of all time, including Nvidia, BlackRock, CrowdStrike, Amazon, and Microsoft. It also showed he bought and sold stocks in Diamondback Energy, an oil and natural gas company, as well as in Horizon Therapeutics, formerly Horizon Pharma.
In March 2022, Landsman accused his opponent, then-Rep. Steven Chabot (R.), of being beholden to those industries.
"He’ll be with Big Pharma and Big Oil. I’ll be with our children and families," he wrote.
The next month, Landsman published a press release titled "Pharma Over Families: Chabot Chooses Chaos in Fight to Lower Costs" and called out political contributions his opponent received from pharmaceutical companies.
"[T]hat’s whose side he’s on…not ours," Landsman wrote.
Landsman bought and sold up to $30,000 in Horizon shares between January and February 2023, while his wife sold as much as $15,000, according to his financial disclosure. He also bought up to $65,000 in Diamondback shares and sold up to $30,000 between January 2023 and July 2024.
Landsman spent his 2022 congressional campaign criticizing oil and gas companies, calling them "out of control."
"Oil and gas corporations are making record profits right now," he posted to X. "They’re price gouging. It’s outrageous, totally unfair to our working families, and a disaster for our economy."
Landsman’s 2024 campaign website says he’s fighting to "hold polluters accountable" and is working to direct federal funds to "renewable energy, sustainability, and environmental restoration in Southwest Ohio."
Diamondback focuses on the "acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas," its website states.
Helwig did not comment on the Free Beacon inquiries about Landsman’s specific investments.
This is not the first time Landsman failed in his responsibilities to the government. In March 2022, the state of Ohio filed a tax lien against the Democrat and ordered him to pay interest on unpaid taxes he owed through his accounting firm Landsman & Associates, the Free Beacon previously reported. Still, Landsman voted eight times to raise taxes and fees over a four-year period as a city councilman—even as he acknowledged his constituents were "struggling."
The Landsman household income, according to finance documents, totaled more than $380,000 in 2022. During a debate, the Ohio Democrat described the rising inflationary costs of gas and groceries as "very frustrating" for him and his wife.