{"id":1009,"date":"2026-07-10T10:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T10:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1009"},"modified":"2026-07-10T10:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T10:38:19","slug":"the-case-of-the-redacted-sec-conflict-of-interest-waiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1009","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Redacted SEC Conflict of Interest Waiver"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ethics officials granted a to an unnamed official at the Securities and Exchange Commission, allowing them to hold on to stocks in Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft despite their work on an investigation that could involve the companies.<\/p>\n

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The waiver, which has not been previously reported, grants the SEC official permission to maintain the stocks even though they \u201clikely\u201d need to send subpoenas and document requests to the companies as part of an investigation into \u201can unrelated party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal law bars government employees from participating in official matters that could be compromised by their financial interests. They can secure a waiver, however, if their financial interest is deemed \u201ctoo remote or too inconsequential\u201d to compromise the integrity of their work.<\/p>\n

Since President Donald Trump took office, agencies across the federal government have issued more than 250 conflict of interest waivers, according to the Office of Government Ethics database<\/u><\/span>, which has waivers going back to September 2024. But this is the only waiver that redacts the name and position of the official, which is highly unusual.<\/p>\n

And it takes a particularly lenient stance on conflicts of interest:The waiver acknowledges that the stock holdings, which make up 10% of the individual\u2019s non-real estate assets, could be \u201cdisqualifying,\u201d but concludes it is \u201cnot so substantial\u201d as to impact their work in the agency\u2019s Office of the Inspector General.<\/p>\n

It raises a \u201chuge red flag,\u201d said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen.<\/p>\n

The stocks make up a significant portion of the individual\u2019s assets, which \u201calone can be a serious potential conflict of interest that could affect the official\u2019s decisionmaking,\u201d Holman wrote in an email. And because the tech companies are \u201cdirectly and intimately affected by public policies,\u201d Holman added, the investments affect both the personal financial income of the official and the \u201cintegrity of government regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When ethics officials see a potential conflict of interest, a federal employee would typically divest from the asset in question or be disqualified from working on the matter.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe only element I see correct in this waiver is a recognition that the official could not adequately perform his or her duties if subject to the conflict of interest law. The solution is to make the official divest of these investments or find someone else to do the job who is not so conflicted,\u201d Holman wrote.<\/p>\n

The conflict of interest waiver, which is dated May 28, was signed by David Reinhold, the director of the SEC\u2019s office of human resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the disqualifying financial interest that will arise in certain particular matters directly and predictably affecting your holdings in these technology companies is not so substantial as to affect the integrity of the services which the government may expect from you,\u201d Reinhold wrote.<\/p>\n

He said that the waiver did not cover any interaction with the companies, which he described as \u201crepositories of records concerning their users,\u201d beyond third-party documents or information requests.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare for an agency to redact an official\u2019s name or title in public disclosures. Of the more than 16,600 ethics disclosures<\/u><\/span> \u2014 including conflict of interest waivers, financial disclosures and transaction reports \u2014 on file with the OGE, this is only one of two forms where the name has been withheld, according to a NOTUS analysis of the database. The CIA also redacted the name of an employee on a certificate of divestiture issued in 2021.<\/p>\n

Danae Serrano, the ethics counsel copied on the conflict of interest waiver, told NOTUS in an email that \u201ccertain information may be redacted if it would otherwise be exempt from disclosure under FOIA.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed to the final paragraph in the waiver, which cites a federal statute<\/u><\/span> that allows an agency to withhold any information about an individual\u2019s financial interest that is \u201cmore extensive\u201d than what is legally required to be disclosed in their financial report.<\/p>\n

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An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethics officials granted a waiver to an official who holds stocks in major technology companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agencies"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Case of the Redacted SEC Conflict of Interest Waiver - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case of the Redacted SEC Conflict of Interest Waiver - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ethics officials granted a waiver to an official who holds stocks in major technology companies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T10:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"The Case of the Redacted SEC Conflict of Interest Waiver\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T10:38:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/32337aa4d5619deaf28943ad0b573f2b.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Agencies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009\",\"name\":\"The Case of the Redacted SEC Conflict of Interest Waiver - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/32337aa4d5619deaf28943ad0b573f2b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T10:38:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1009#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/32337aa4d5619deaf28943ad0b573f2b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/32337aa4d5619deaf28943ad0b573f2b.jpg\",\"width\":2243,\"height\":1430,\"caption\":\"FILE - The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at SEC headquarters, June 19, 2015, in Washington. 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