'Tomorrow, we go to the moon!' Watchdogs say Madison Cawthorn might be guilty of insider trading

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday April 26, 2022 · 1:43 PM PDT

2022/04/26 · 13:43

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 01: Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) speaks during a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on November 1, 2021 in Washington, DC. The event was held to support first responders who may lose their jobs for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

Rep. Madison Cawthorn is in the news again! No, not because he was busted for a second time trying to get on a plane with a loaded firearm. I mean, yes, yes that happened and was reported on today, but that’s not what this new news is! The Washington Examiner has put together a pretty damning bit of circumstantial evidence, brought to them by “multiple watchdog groups,” concerning Cawthorn being guilty of insider trading on a cryptocurrency stock.

The stock in question is the Let’s Go Brandon cryptocurrency (LBG) put together by hedge fund manager James Koutoulas. Koutoulas and Cawthorn seem to be buddies; a social media post from a day before NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced he would be sponsored by the meme coin for all of 2022—leading to a huge spike in the coin’s value—has set off warning flares for watchdogs of insider trading, who say this is a clear case that needs investigation.

It seems Koutoulas and Cawthorn are social buddies as the founder of the Let’s Go Brandon crypto currency has quite a few posts with Cawthorn, including an Instagram post from Dec. 29, 2021 at an outdoor function, where Koutoulas wrote “Never get sick of a Madison Cawthorn bro out.” After reading that (and subsequently recovering from nausea), you can check out Cawthorn’s reply in the Instagram post, saying, “Tomorrow we go to the moon!” Going to the moon is a phrase the kids use in regards to buying cryptocurrencies with the belief that the currency’s market value will skyrocket.

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And even before that very intensely coincidental social media post, Cawthorn was clearly hanging out with the crypto hedge funder Koutoulas. Here they are a few weeks earlier.

Incredible spending back to back nights with the affable Patriot @CawthornforNC pic.twitter.com/mzZTXppya4
— James Koutoulas (@jameskoutoulas) December 5, 2021

It is illegal to purchase stocks with insider information. It is a crime. But as Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen told the Examiner, Cawthorn would have to disclose whether he purchased more than $1,000 worth of the coin regardless of whether or not it was considered a security for regulatory purposes. "Owning cryptocurrency would be an asset subject to disclosure of a lawmaker’s annual financial disclosure form. It also could constitute a 'personal benefit' under the STOCK Act, making any official actions taken by Cawthorn to specifically and substantially benefit its value a violation of the STOCK Act."

Most (if not all) crypto stocks have shown themselves to be poorly regulated pump and dump schemes, and so far the LGB cryptocurrency has played out much the same way as the Let’s Go Brandon meme coin: The coin’s value jumped to $570 million shortly after the Dec. 30 announcement only to drop to $0 by the end of January.

Koutoulas said in a Feb. 20 livestream that two factors led to LGBCoin's precipitous decline: First, NASCAR rejected LGBCoin's sponsorship deal with Brown on Jan. 4, and then later that month, unidentified insiders that owned an outsize share of the coin dumped all their holdings at once, causing the coin's market value to evaporate.

Subsequently, the coin has been relaunched as just “LGB.” The creators of the the LGB meme coin are now the subjects of a recently filed class-action lawsuit for this very reason. Cawthorn is not named in that lawsuit, but to be sure, Cawthorn promotes the coin.

Amazing to see Patriots like this shouting us out!@jameskoutoulas and @CawthornforNC going strong at this weekend American Freedom Tour event in Fort Lauderdale!#letsgo #AFT #Freedom pic.twitter.com/jhtXP8nXjt
— LetsGo Brandon (@LetsGo) March 22, 2022

Whether or not Cawthorn will pay for any of his crimes remains to be seen.

'Tomorrow, we go to the moon!' Watchdogs say Madison Cawthorn might be guilty of insider trading

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