Legal troubles continue to mount for Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross: A new report from the Campaign Legal Center suggests Ross at the least owned stock in companies while formulating government policies affecting those companies, an ethical breach of the highest order. That's the good interpretation. The less charitable interpretation is that Ross has been doing some insider trading based on his government position.
A new document unearthed in the report shows that Greenbrier Companies did in fact come before the commerce department during Ross’ tenure as secretary. Twelve days after the May 18, 2017 meeting, Furman wrote a letter to the department, expressing concern over how Ross’ investigation into steel imports might affect Greenbrier’s supply of railcar axles and wheels imported from Japan. One day after Furman sent the letter, Ross sold part of his stake in Greenbrier, which he had not previously disclosed owning. Seven months later, Ross sold another chunk of Greenbrier stock, ultimately suggesting that he took so long to sell the shares because he did not know he owned them. In its report, the Campaign Legal Center called that explanation “implausible.”
There is a paper trail for this. Ross met with the CEO of Greenbrier Companies for a private lunch chat; a dozen days later, that CEO petitioned Commerce over an investigation into steel imports that Ross himself was leading (a topic which would later turn into an international trade war, thanks to administration bumbling); the very next day Wilbur decided to reduce his stake in that precise company. He didn't just fail to divest from his holdings upon taking his government position; he appears to have been actively trading based on the matters that came before his government department.
Whether this ranks as a petty "ethical concern" or a reason to send Wilbur Ross to prison will be decided by federal investigators. Ross is also facing insider trading allegations over stock trades this last June and accusations by former business partners that he engaged in outright theft. It's hard to put a rich man in prison these days, but Wilbur here seems to be trying very damn hard to become the exception.