Between January 2, 2020 and March 11, 2020, Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte purchased between $375,013 and $915,000 in stocks from pharmaceutical, medical supply, and consulting companies who stood to make a profit from their work confronting the coronavirus pandemic. Disclosure forms filed with the House of Representatives show that Gianforte invested in companies that supply medical and supply kits, pharmaceuticals working on drugs to confront the virus, and consultants offering plans to mitigate its impact.

Gianforte began his stock purchases on January 2, just days after the scope of the threat from the novel coronavirus started to become known.

This table shows the purchases Gianforte reported to the House.

Date Company Amount 01/02/20 NV5 Global, Inc $50,001 – $100,000 01/03/20 Roche Holdings AG Basel, $15,001 – $50,000 01/02/20 NV5 Global, Inc. $50,001 – $100,000 01/07/20 NV Global, Inc. $50,001 – $100,000 01/08/20 NV5 Global, Inc $15,001 – $50,000 1/13/20 Chugai Pharmaceutical LTD $15,001 – $50,000 1/13/20 Ambev S.A. $50,001 – $100,000 1/13/20 L’Air Liquid Ord American $15,001-$50,000 1/13/20 Linde PLC $15,001-$50,000 2/20/20 Shionogi & Co. LTD $100,001 – $250,000 03/06/20 NV5 Global, Inc. $15,001 – $50,000 3/11/20 NV5 Global, Inc $15,001 – $50,000 3/11/20 NV5 Global, Inc. $1,001 – $15,000

The company with the largest number of purchases, NV5 Global, describes itself as the kind of company that would warm Gianforte’s heart. They describe themselves as focused on maximizing value for shareholders during the crisis, “a provider of professional and technical engineering and consulting solutions, announced today its delivery of facility health and safety consulting services designed to mitigate the risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposure for clients’ employees and stakeholders, while minimizing interruption to business operations.”

Shionogi & Co, which Gianforte invested as much as a quarter-million dollars in, is working on rapid testing for coronavirus using technology from a Chinese company, according to this press release:

The World Health Organization on March 11, 2020 declared the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2/COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic. While the number of infected patients is still increasing in the world, national measures are being taken in Japan. PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is a method currently used to confirm patients with COVID-19 by detecting viral nucleic acids in samples taken from the nasal cavity or throat. PCR is an essential test for confirming infectious patients, but it presents problems in terms of simplicity and rapidity, such as requiring dedicated measuring equipment and requiring a relatively long time to obtain test results. Shionogi will progress discussions with MBS regarding the distribution and sales of a rapid IgG/IgM antibody-test kit for the COVID-19 (hereafter ‘COVID-19 antibody-test kit’), which is imported by MBS from a Chinese cooperative company (Vazyme Biotech, Co., Ltd.).

Chungai Pharmaceutical was testing a cocktail of drugs to treat patients:

A cocktail of antiviral drugs appeared effective in treating a seriously ill coronavirus patient, a Thai health official said. The HIV medicines lopinavir and ritonavir, which are sold by AbbVie Inc. as the product Kaletra, was used on three patients in conjunction with the anti-flu medication oseltamivir, sold by Roche Holding AG and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. as Tamiflu, Somkiat Lalitwongsa, director of the Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok told reporters Monday. Kaletra is already being studied in a randomized, controlled trial — the gold standard for testing new medical products — in novel coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China.

Roche Holdings announced a test of their rheumatoid arthritis drug for COVID-19 treatment and even received emergency approval from the FDA for a rapid test:

According to Fortune, “Roche Holding AG said it won emergency approval from the U.S. government for a highly automated coronavirus test, potentially speeding up the ability to test patients by a factor of 10. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted ‘Emergency Use Authorization’ to the test, which runs on Roche’s cobas 6800/8800 systems. The tool also is available in Europe and countries that accept its CE marking for medical devices, Roche said.”

Gianforte also invested in companies that provide ventilation systems and medical oxygen to patients.

Gianforte invested in Air Liquide, which describes itself as a provider of “long-term home respiratory assistance,” established more than 30 30 years ago by providing support for chronic respiratory failure patients returning home from the hospital. More motivated than ever by the goal of improving patient quality of life and independence, Air Liquide Healthcare provides patients with the full range of medical respiratory assistance equipment in their own homes as part of its contribution to ensuring continuity of treatment in complete safety.”

And Linde? Gianforte invested as much as $50,000 in a company that is providing medical oxygen in China.

He even invested in Ambev, a Brazilian company that will churn out hand sanitizer:

“With alcohol gel supplies increasingly stretched, Ambev SA said on Tuesday it will use one of its Brazil beer breweries to produce half a million sanitizer bottles for public hospitals to fight the spread of coronavirus. Ambev SA, the local subsidiary of Anheuser Busch InBev , said in a statement that it plans to deliver 5,000 sanitizer gel bottles to every public hospital in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, where most of the country’s coronavirus cases are concentrated.

The findings, flagged by American Bridge, also suggest that Gianforte broke his 2017 promise to Montanans that he would put his assets in a blind trust if elected to Congress.

In 2017, when he was running against Rob Quist in the special election, Gianforte claimed that he would do so to prevent his investments affecting his decisions in Congress. From the Billings Gazette:

Greg has already promised Montanans that, if elected, he will place his assets into a blind trust to guarantee there is never any conflict of interest,’ said Brock Lowrance, campaign manager. ‘Greg will take those actions to provide a guarantee that his investments will not influence his decision making. Montanans are the ones who influence his decision making.’

That Gianforte reported these transactions suggests his investments are not in the blind trust he promised. House Ethics rules on financial disclosure specifically exempt transactions made in blind trusts from disclosure requirements:

Generally, you must disclose a trust and information concerning each asset held in a trust in which you, your spouse, or a dependent child has a beneficial interest. If you and your family members have no trusts, or if your Statement fully discloses any trust assets, check the box marked “NO.” If you have an “excepted trust” or “qualified blind trust,” as described below, you must disclose the trust, its value, and any income received by you, your spouse, or your dependent child on Schedule A, but you need not disclose its assets. You also must check “YES” in response to the “Trust” question on page 1 because you are excluding from disclosure on Schedule A certain assets contained in a trust.”

And given that Gianforte has already broken a similar promise not to take money from special interest PACs, one would have to take his claims about a blind trust with a very skeptical eye.

Was Gianforte telling the truth when he said he would put his investments in a blind trust? The disclosure forms make clear that, even though the investments were made by holding companies, Gianforte was aware of those investments even as he was speaking to the people of Montana and voting in the House.

Was Gianforte, who as recently as late February was telling Montanans to continue to invest in the stock market, acting in the best interests of Montanans or in the best interests of his personal wealth when he made massive investments in companies hoping to profit from the pandemic?

Why was Gianforte making large stock purchases into these companies as early as January 2 when his first official mention of coronavirus didn’t appear until almost two months later?

Why is Congressman Gianforte, the second wealthiest member of Congress, coming in only behind insider trading suspect Kelly Loeffler, trying to turn a profit on a global crisis that threatens the health and economic well-being of Montanans?

We deserve answers to all of these questions.

In 2017, Congressman Gianforte claimed that Montanans shouldn’t elect him because he was so rich that special interests couldn’t buy him. It would appear, though, that he’s so rich that he isn’t willing to profit from a pandemic.

If you appreciate an independent voice holding Montana politicians accountable and informing voters, and you can throw a few dollars a month our way, we would certainly appreciate it.