U.S. Representative Under Ethics Investigation for Crypto Activities
The Congressman may have participated in a pump-and-dump scheme involving a coin named Let’s Go Brandon.
Key Takeaways
- The House Committee on Ethics has launched an investigation into North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn.
- Cawthorn is suspected of insider trading and engaging in an improper relationship with a member of his staff.
- The news comes six days after Cawthorn lost his reelection bid in the Republican primary.Â
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The U.S. Congress has released a statement declaring that it would launch an investigation into Representative Madison Cawthorn’s (R-NC) crypto activities for allegedly promoting a coin in which he had a financial interest.
Let’s Go Brandon
The House of Representatives has launched an ethics investigation into Rep. Madison Cawthorn over alleged improper cryptocurrency activities.
According to a statement by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, the investigation will seek to discover whether North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn “improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest.” The Congressman is also under scrutiny for potentially engaging “in an improper relationship with an individual employed on his congressional staff.”
The investigation comes in the wake of an April report from the Washington Examiner, which claimed that Cawthorn may have been implicated in an insider trading scheme involving the cryptocurrency Let’s Go Brandon (LGB), named after the chant mocking U.S. President Joe Biden. Cawthorn stated publicly on multiple occasions that he owned LGB and has been photographed with its creators, most notably a few hours before NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced on December 30 that LGB would be the primary sponsor of his 2022 season, which caused the coin’s price to increase by 75% and reach its all-time high.
Multiple watchdog groups have told the Washington Examiner that the lawmaker may have had advanced nonpublic knowledge of Let’s Go Brandon’s deal with Brown. The value of LGB crashed to zero on January 29 and has not recovered since.
Cawthorn is a first-term Congressional Representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. He lost his bid for reelection to state Sen. Chuck Edwards in the Republican primary on May 17.
The investigative committee will be chaired by Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), with Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) serving as its Ranking Member. The probe was authorized after a unanimous vote on May 11. Following news of the investigation, Cawthorn tweeted: “Wow- I must still be a problem for the swamp! They’re still coming after me!”
No details have been confirmed about the employee Cawthorn is alleged to have engaged in an inappropriate relationship with.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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