Four US Congress members face conflict-of-interest scrutiny over SpaceX stock buys
Four US House members or their families have bought up to $130,000 in SpaceX stock since its IPO, CNBC reports — raising conflict-of-interest concerns since one buyer, Rep. Gil Cisneros, sits on the Armed Services Committee that oversees the Pentagon and Space Force contracts SpaceX depends on.
SpaceX went public on June 12 at $135 a share, raising roughly $75 billion in what became the largest IPO in history.
Per CNBC, Rep. Gil Cisneros — a member of the House Armed Services Committee — bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in SpaceX stock on June 18, a purchase disclosed on July 2. Family members of Reps. John McGuire, Dan Meuser, and John James also bought shares, bringing the combined total across all four to as much as $130,000.
The concern centers on Cisneros's committee assignment: Armed Services oversees the Pentagon and Space Force contracts that are core to SpaceX's business, and the company holds numerous contracts with the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Space Force.
CNBC found no evidence any lawmaker traded on nonpublic information or violated congressional trading rules. Still, the FAA barred its own employees from holding SpaceX stock effective June 30 over conflict-of-interest concerns — a restriction Congress hasn't applied to itself.
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