S. 1620 — MEME Act

This section states the sense of Congress that (1) federally elected officials must not utilize their positions for private financial gain; (2) the issuance, sponsorship, or promotion of financial instruments by public office holders deprives the public of honest services, facilitates bribery, and results in public exploitation and corrupt foreign influence; and (3) Members of Congress and executive branch officials must hold their positions in trust for the public benefit.

This section prohibits covered individuals—the President, Vice President, public officials (as defined in 18 U.S.C. §201(a)), and their spouses and dependent children—and adjacent individuals—executive branch Senior Executive Service members, uniformed service members at O-7 pay grade or higher, designated equivalents, and their spouses and dependent children—from engaging in or benefiting from prohibited financial transactions, defined as issuing, sponsoring, or promoting covered assets (i.e., securities or security futures as defined in 15 U.S.C. §78c(a), commodities as defined in 7 U.S.C. §1a, digital assets including cryptocurrencies, meme coins, tokens, and non-fungible tokens, and related derivatives, options, warrants, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds) for pecuniary gain during the individual's term of service and for 180 days before and after service begins or ends. (For adjacent individuals, the prohibition supplements but does not limit 18 U.S.C. §208; such transactions are deemed unofficial acts outside official duties for immunity purposes.) It adds these provisions and related civil enforcement authority—including suits by the Attorney General, civil penalties up to $250,000 for knowing violations, and disgorgement of profits—as new subchapter IV (5 U.S.C. §§13151-13153) to chapter 131 of title 5, U.S. Code, with a conforming clerical amendment to the chapter table of sections. The section also adds parallel definitions and criminal prohibitions as new 18 U.S.C. §221 to chapter 11 of title 18, U.S. Code.