After receiving blowback for making hundreds of stock trades since joining Congress, a new financial report from U.S. Rep. Jefferson Shreve shows the congressman largely sold the entirety of his portfolio in May.
Shreve sold and closed accounts for about 250 stock investments in May for one of his charitable remainder trusts, according to a monthly financial transaction report. A spokesperson for the congressman said in a statement to IndyStar that Shreve directed the asset manager of his trust to sell the stocks for the sake of transparency, and that Shreve never traded personally-held stocks while in Congress.
“The Congressman wants to be transparent and clear that the trust assets will go to charity,” the spokesperson said. “The transactions made by the trust are to the benefit of the trust — and not him personally.”
Shreve, a Republican who represents the southern portion of Indianapolis, received criticism after news organization NOTUS reported on the congressman’s stock trades since the start of the year, which included between $3.44 million and $9.45 million worth of trades in the weeks following President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement in early April that disrupted financial markets.
Those stock trades were made for Shreve’s two 10-year charitable remainder trusts that largely benefit a foundation he founded with his wife in 2022. The two trusts have a combined value of between $10 million and $50 million, according to Shreve’s annual financial reports.
The Shreves receive about 5% from one of the charitable remainder trusts while the rest of the funds across the two trusts are directed to charities. Congressional ethics rules require financial disclosures for the assets that make up charitable remainder trusts.
Members of Congress are allowed to buy and sell stocks if they don’t violate insider trading rules, but Shreve’s April trades happened as some federal lawmakers were eyeing a ban on stock trading for members of Congress.
A spokesperson for Shreve’s office in May said that the congressman relies on a financial advisor to make stock trades and doesn’t conduct the transactions for the trusts on his own. The millions of dollars in trades in April were just a fraction of Shreve’s wealth. The congressman sold his Storage Express business in 2022 for $590 million.
Shreve still personally owns stocks in Northwest Bancshares and Extra Space Storage, the company that bought Shreve’s business, according to financial records.
Shreve is in his first term in Congress. He was elected to represent Indiana’s 6th Congressional District in 2024.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: U.S. Rep. Jefferson Shreve sells stocks from charitable trusts after public criticism
Reporting by Brittany Carloni, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
