Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was slammed on Twitter Wednesday after it was reported that she sold 30,000 shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, one month before the Department of Justice announced an antitrust investigation lawsuit against the tech giant.
Between Dec. 20 and Dec. 28, 2022, Pelosi reported three separate transactions of selling Google stock which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. Each of the transactions included the sale of 10,000 shares of Alphabet and involved an amount between $500,001 and $1,000,000 and yielded capital gains of more than $200 — although it's unclear how large the profit was.
On Tuesday, the DOJ and eight states announced a lawsuit against Google, which alleges the tech giant had a monopoly over internet search traffic and took anticompetitive action.
Many accused the San Francisco lawmaker of engaging in insider trading.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., tweeted "Pelosi selling off millions in Google stock weeks before the DOJ filed a lawsuit against them tells you exactly how she became worth $200+ million on a government salary."
"Nancy Pelosi sold millions in Google stock a month ago. I’m sure it’s just one giant coincidence that she sold right before the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Google," Robby Starbuck, a conservative writer, tweeted.
"Convenient Timing: Pelosi Sold $3 Million of Google Stock Weeks Before DOJ Launched Antitrust Probe," Joe Gabriel Simonson, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, tweeted
"You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder how Nancy Pelosi knew to sell off $3 million of her Google stock 4 WEEKS before the DOJ opened their tech monopoly lawsuit against them," James Bradley, a veteran and conservative activist, tweeted.
Pelosi and her husband faced public scrutiny last year after they traded between $1 million and $5 million of semiconductor stocks days before Congress passed legislation that would provide $52 million to the industry. On Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced the PELOSI Act, which would ban members of Congress from trading in the stock market.