Moran Invested in Firms for Which He Secured Earmarks

Moran’s trading has evolved over the years. Between 1995 and 2003, while representing bustling Northern Virginia, Moran made more than 537 options trades, potentially worth more than $3 million in all, according to a Washington Post review of records compiled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. In 1999, after the congressman lost about $120,000 over two years through options investments, attorneys for Moran’s second wife described his behavior as ‘stock market gambling’ in court papers filed as part of a divorce.

Since Moran’s remarriage in 2004 to a wealthy entrepreneur, his disclosure statements show one of the most actively traded portfolios in Congress, with assets owned by his wife. In early 2005, he personally made more than two dozen risky, short-term investments designed to profit on the rise or fall of stock indices, his disclosure forms show.

In 1995 and 1996, Moran lost about $120,000 in investments on risky stock options and futures contracts, according to subsequent news accounts. In dozens of instances, the profits essentially depended on whether the S&P 500 and 100 stock indices rose or fell.

In 2000, Moran acknowledged borrowing $25,000 from a pharmaceutical lobbyist. The next year, he took a $50,000 loan from an America Online executive. He continued to make options bets, documents show.

In the first three months of 2005, Moran again became personally active as a trader when he bought or sold 30 ‘puts’ and ‘calls,’ in transactions potentially worth as much as $1 million. Puts and calls are risky bets that a stock or asset will either rise or fall in value at some point in the future. They usually are highly leveraged, meaning an investor places his bet by putting down a small amount of an asset’s value and can reap huge profits or losses.

The holdings disclosed by Moran in 2008 included stock in General Dynamics and BAE Systems, which both received earmarks requested by Moran that year, according to financial and earmark disclosure records. The earmarks were for $1.6 million each.

Moran submitted letters to Congress certifying that neither he nor his wife had any ‘financial interest’ at stake.

Read more: (Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Dan Keating, “Rep. James Moran’s Investments Illustrate Congress’s Leeway in Trading,” The Washington Post, 5/25/10)