This U.S. politician just reported a highly suspicious defense stock trade

Members of the U.S. Senate, Congress, and House of Representatives have reported several suspicious trades in 2024, which could show a direct conflict of interest and be labeled as insider trading once their decisions could affect stock performances.

One of the most recent instances is the trade by Representative Scott Franklin, who, on August 20, reported a purchase of up to $115,000 worth of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) stock in two separate trades on August 2 and August 7.

Franklin’s purchase of GD stock. Source: Quiver Quantitative — Franklin’s purchase of GD stock. Source: *Quiver Quantitative*

What makes this trade suspicious is that General Dynamics specializes in producing aerospace and defense products. In 2024, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor for the U.S. Army, and Franklin sits on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, which is tasked with allocating funds to military-related projects.

Therefore, Scott Franklin’s allocation decision could directly benefit defense companies’ results, like General Dynamics.

GD stock price chart

Although GD stock‘s price decreased 0.58% in the latest trading session and 0.23% in the last five, setting the price at $294.07 per share, it trades in the green for the year 2024, notching a 13.72% progress on a year-to-date (YTD) price chart.

GD stock YTD price chart. Source: Finbold

Franklin was pretty active with stock trades during August

On August 20, a Representative from Florida reported more than 70 stock trades in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with purchases spanning from $15,000 to $100,000, while sales had the highest volume of up to $200,000 per trade.

Notably, Franklin’s trading activity shows that he has been a frequent seller in 2024, with sales amounting to $5.1 million compared to only $1.11 million in purchases.

This is in line with the trend from previous years when his sales outweighed purchases by a significant amount.

Representative Franklin's trade volume by year. Source: Quiver Quantitative — Representative Franklin’s trade volume by year. Source: *Quiver Quantitative*

Since assuming office in 2021, Representative Franklin has decided to invest the most in 2024, with notable investments in the defense, technology, entertainment, and industry sectors.

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Source: https://finbold.com/this-u-s-politician-just-reported-a-highly-suspicious-defense-stock-trade/