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Reps. Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) and Kathleen Rice (D-NY) sent letters to the FBI and SEC demanding an investigation into Trump market manipulation and insider trading.

The Democrats who are former prosecutors wrote:



We write to urge you to investigate potentially unlawful behavior related to the trading of electronically traded futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the last several months.

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On October 16, Vanity Fair reported on numerous instances in which individuals or groups of individuals made millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars in profits by trading large numbers of Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P) e-mini futures contracts immediately prior to major geopolitical events. In each of these instances, the e-mini contracts were traded within days, and often within hours, of the S&P rising or falling sharply. The trades preceded such events as the Saudi Aramco attack as well as announcements related to progress in talks between the United States and China over the trade war and the withdrawal of the extradition bill in Hong Kong. In one case occurring in August, the trader or traders made $1.5 billion when the S&P rose after President Trump lied about phone calls taking place between United States and Chinese officials.

While the aforementioned trades may be purely coincidental, their timing and scale raise serious suspicions about whether the traders received material nonpublic information that would affect the S&P and how they received such information. We urge you to swiftly investigate whether trading on insider information or any other fraudulent behavior occurred in relation to these trades.

Vanity Fair detailed a series of strange trades that have resulted in billions of dollars in profits for whoever bought suspicious futures before Donald Trump made key announcements. The situation looks even more dubious when one considers Trump’s habit of babbling on his cell phone to his friends day and night about what he is doing as president.

Trump himself has tried to manipulate the stock market, and it is predictable that the same president who would award his own golf club the G7 would be engaging in insider trading from the White House. Trump never separated himself from his business which has created a ripe environment for corruption.

Trump’s corruption is likely to include insider trading.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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