{"id":64,"date":"2026-05-28T10:09:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2026-05-28T10:09:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:09:56","slug":"an-hhs-officials-stock-trading-is-raising-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"An HHS Official\u2019s Stock Trading Is Raising Flags"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Several weeks ago, the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 top attorney began personally investing in a glass company that sells hundreds<\/u><\/span> of millions of dollars worth of products to his agency.HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart\u2019s March 24 purchases of Corning stock shares were worth at least $100,002 and as much as $200,000, according to a Stuart submitted the day of his trades.<\/p>\n

Read more Samuel Alito\u2019s Son Has Been Quietly Working for Trump\u2019s Treasury Department<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, in a highly unusual move, Office of Government Ethics official Megan Granahan declined to certify Stuart\u2019s disclosure \u201cdue to continued non-compliance\u201d with an Stuart signed last year prior to his Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n

Reached by phone this week, Stuart told NOTUS he had \u201cno idea\u201d that Corning did business with his department. He said he bought the stock because of Corning\u2019s business relationship with Apple, the computing and technology company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t use any information I would glean inappropriately. If I see something I like, I buy it,\u201d Stuart said. He said he makes his own individual stock trades \u2014 without the assistance of a broker or financial adviser.<\/p>\n

Corning stock closed<\/u><\/span> at about $142 per share the day Stuart made his purchase and closed above $180 per share on May 20, when the Office of Government Ethics declined to certify his disclosure. Stuart said that when federal ethics officials contacted him a few days ago about his Corning stock, he immediately took action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I get those notifications, I sell. I don\u2019t even ask questions,\u201d Stuart said. \u201cMy whole career, I\u2019ve never had even a whiff of an ethical issue. I\u2019m extra careful that I am completely in compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stuart pledged in that March 2025 to \u201cavoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest\u201d upon his confirmation as Health and Human Services general counsel.<\/p>\n

The Senate confirmed Stuart in October, with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, praising his long tenure of public service in that state and expressing<\/u><\/span> her confidence that he \u201cwill serve with distinction, ensuring the agency operates with accountability, clarity, and respect for the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his , Stuart \u2014 a onetime U.S. attorney<\/u><\/span> and state senator<\/u><\/span> in West Virginia \u2014 agreed to divest more than 40 of his individual stock holdings to avoid conflict-of-interest concerns.<\/p>\n

Among the stocks he sold: various health-related companies and several major government contractors, including Palantir Technologies, RTX Corporation, Leidos Holdings and Honeywell International.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, Stuart purchased a new tranche of Honeywell stock valued between $30,002 and $100,000, . (By law, public officials are only required to disclose the value of stock trades in broad ranges.)<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks later, Stuart divested of that Honeywell stock and \u201cwas recused during the period of ownership from all particular matters involving or affecting the entity,\u201d Office of Government Ethics official Gretchen Weaver wrote in a note appended to a March 11 disclosure that Stuart submitted.<\/p>\n

On a document where Stuart disclosed an April 14 purchase of up to $15,000 in Nokia Corporation sponsored American depository shares, Weaver : \u201cAcquired investment determined to fall outside of applicable limitations on filer\u2019s investments.\u201dIn early March, less than a week after the United States began attacking Iran, Stuart between $66,003 and $165,000 worth of stock in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, a government defense contractor that in mid-March secured<\/u><\/span> a contract with the U.S. Space Force that\u2019s potentially worth $446.8 million.<\/p>\n

Read more Gallego Establishes a Legal Defense Fund to Fight an Ethics Complaint<\/a><\/p>\n

He likewise disclosed stock worth $50,001 to $100,000 in L3Harris Technologies, another federal government contractor that\u2019s scored billions of dollars worth<\/u><\/span> of<\/u><\/span> contracts<\/u><\/span> in recent years across several government agencies, including the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n

To date, there\u2019s no official record of Stuart selling his Corning investment, although weeks or even months often pass before such documents become publicly accessible through the Office of Government Ethics.<\/p>\n

\u201cOGE publishes ethics disclosures, associated documents, and oversight correspondence to its website as soon as practicable,\u201d Office of Government Ethics spokesperson Patrick Shepherd said in an email to NOTUS. Shepherd otherwise declined to comment about Stuart, saying the independent agency \u201cdoes not respond to questions about specific individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

OGE has historically served as the executive branch\u2019s internal watchdog, policing potential conflicts of interest among its officials and flagging ethical issues within government agencies.<\/p>\n

OGE staff have long relied on the bureaucratic equivalent of poking, prodding and nagging government officials to comply with disclosure, transparency and conflict-of-interest rules. Declining to certify a financial disclosure, as OGE did this month for Stuart\u2019s Corning stock-trade document, serves as an ethical scarlett letter of sorts, even if there are no broader civil or criminal implications.<\/p>\n

The financial disclosures OGE administers, processes and certifies have of late revealed curious stock trades or fiscal arrangements by other high-ranking government officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel<\/u><\/span>, Energy Secretary Chris Wright<\/u><\/span>, Federal Highway Administration Administrator Sean McMaster<\/u><\/span>, Environmental Protection Administration Assistant Administrator Douglas Troutman<\/u><\/span>, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee<\/u><\/span> and U.S. Ambassador to Italy and San Marino Tilman Fertitta<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

But the agency has no power to enforce federal ethics laws, describing its mission<\/u><\/span> as \u201cone of prevention,\u201d with the agency inspectors general and the Department of Justice primarily tasked with pursuing alleged executive branch misdeeds. OGE hasn\u2019t had a Senate-confirmed director since early 2025, when President Donald Trump fired David Huitema<\/u><\/span>, a career government official whom then-President Joe Biden nominated in 2023.<\/p>\n

Members of Congress have introduced several bills this session that, to one degree or another, would limit or ban lawmakers \u2014 and in some cases executive branch officials \u2014 from buying and selling individual stocks. The bill that\u2019s so far advanced the furthest, the Republican leadership-backed Stop Insider Trading Act<\/u><\/span>, applies only to members of Congress.<\/p>\n

Political Integrity Project co-founder Daniel Lobo-Lewis said public officials who want to minimize actual or perceived conflicts of interest should abstain from trading individual stocks and invest their money in broad-based mutual funds or exchange-traded funds.<\/p>\n

They could also place their assets in what\u2019s known as a qualified blind trust: a government-approved arrangement where an official\u2019s wealth is managed by an independent trustee and completely hidden from them, Lobo-Lewis said.As for Stuart, he says he plans to continue trading individual stocks and disclosing them to the Office of Government Ethics on the very day he executes his trades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an open book,\u201d Stuart said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in those reports that I\u2019m embarrassed about in the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans Scrub Their Ken Paxton Insults From the Internet<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf I see something I like, I buy it,\u201d HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart told NOTUS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money"],"yoast_head":"\nAn HHS Official\u2019s Stock Trading Is Raising Flags - 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=64\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An HHS Official\u2019s Stock Trading Is Raising Flags - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIf I see something I like, I buy it,\u201d HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart told NOTUS.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=64\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T10:09:56+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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"An HHS Official\u2019s Stock Trading Is Raising Flags\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T10:09:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64\"},\"wordCount\":1099,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d569a817841073b1738725bdc1c9b478-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Money\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64\",\"name\":\"An HHS Official\u2019s Stock Trading Is Raising Flags - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d569a817841073b1738725bdc1c9b478-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T10:09:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=64#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d569a817841073b1738725bdc1c9b478-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d569a817841073b1738725bdc1c9b478-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1708,\"caption\":\"A door to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services headquarters at the Hubert H. 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