“A bill to amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prevent financial exploitation by public office holders, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes a new subchapter in the Ethics in Government Act (5 U.S.C. ch. 131) prohibiting covered individuals (i.e., individuals described in 5 U.S.C. 13103(f), such as the President, Vice President, and candidates for those offices) and their immediate family members (i.e., spouse, parent, sibling, child aged 18 or older, or person in loco parentis) from engaging in prohibited financial transactions—defined to include the issuance, sponsorship, or endorsement (including use of name or likeness in marketing materials) of digital asset securities, security futures relating to digital assets, digital asset commodities, cryptocurrencies, meme coins, tokens, non-fungible tokens sold for remuneration, payment stablecoins, or comparable interests acquired synthetically (e.g., via derivatives) or through significant holdings in funds—during the individual's term of service, the 180-day period ending on the service commencement date, or the two-year period beginning on the service termination date. Such transactions exclude mere public purchase, sale, or holding of routinely accessible financial instruments. (Thus, the prohibition supplements 18 U.S.C. 208 on conflicts of interest and deems violative conduct unofficial for immunity purposes.) The section further authorizes the Attorney General to pursue civil actions with penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, 10% of the financial interest's value, or the violator's financial gain (whichever is greatest), plus disgorgement of profits to the Treasury.
This section establishes criminal penalties in new 18 U.S.C. §221 for covered individuals (as defined in 5 U.S.C. §13103(f)) who violate 5 U.S.C. §13152(a)—prohibiting issuance, sponsorship, or endorsement of specified digital asset-related financial interests (i.e., digital asset securities or security futures, digital asset commodities, cryptocurrencies, meme coins, tokens, non-fungible tokens, payment stablecoins, or comparable synthetic or aggregated interests, excluding routine public instruments)—under the following circumstances: (1) causing $1 million or more aggregate loss to U.S. persons or financially benefiting from such transactions, punishable by fine or imprisonment up to 5 years (or both); (2) corruptly demanding, seeking, or receiving anything of value in relation thereto (i.e., bribery), punishable by fine up to 3 times the value received (whichever greater), imprisonment up to 15 years (or both), and possible disqualification from federal office; or (3) also violating securities laws on insider trading (15 U.S.C. §78j(b)), punishable by fine up to 3 times any financial gain (whichever greater), imprisonment up to 15 years (or both), and possible disqualification from federal office. Such conduct is deemed an unofficial act beyond official duties (thus, ineligible for associated immunities), with no requirement to prove intent to create the prohibited financial interest.
This section amends public financial disclosure requirements applicable to certain executive, legislative, and judicial branch officials (5 U.S.C. 13104) to (1) require reporting of the identity and category of value of any cryptocurrency, meme coin, token, non-fungible token, payment stablecoin, or other digital asset sold for remuneration held during the preceding calendar year with a fair market value exceeding $1,000 at year-end; and (2) include such digital assets in disclosures of certain transactions. It further expands the definition of "financial interest" under the executive branch conflict-of-interest prohibition (18 U.S.C. 208(a)) to encompass any interest in the issuance, purchase, sale, or holding of such digital assets. (Thus, covered officials must recuse from participating personally and substantially in particular matters affecting those interests, subject to existing exceptions in 18 U.S.C. 208(b).)
This section establishes certification requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers (i.e., those approved by the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator) to ensure no public official (i.e., as defined in 5 U.S.C. §13103(f)) or special Government employee profits from their payment stablecoins in connection with any particular matter in which the official participates personally and substantially. Issuers must submit an initial certification to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and the primary regulator to receive approval; recertify not later than 90 days after issuing the first payment stablecoin and quarterly thereafter; and have all certifications publicly disclosed by OGE. Failure to certify results in approval revocation, and knowingly false certifications are subject to criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. §1001 (i.e., fines, up to 5 years imprisonment, or up to 8 years if involving terrorism or specified sex offenses), with regulators required to refer suspected violations to the Attorney General.
This section defines relevant congressional committees as (1) the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and (2) the House Committees on Financial Services; Agriculture; and Oversight and Government Reform. It further directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to those committees, not later than 360 days after enactment, a report containing recommendations to update federal laws relating to ethics and enforcement procedures relating to ethics in order to incorporate regulatory frameworks relating to digital assets adopted on or after enactment.