With voters more tuned in than ever to the questionable stock trades members of Congress are using to enrich themselves, a new Alaska Current review of financial disclosure records finds that Republican US Sen. Dan Sullivan’s stock trades haven’t just helped triple his personal wealth while in office, but include several suspiciously timed trades.
The Republican incumbent, who was busted in 2022 for violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act—a 2012 transparency law requiring federal lawmakers to disclose their stock trades—made several well-timed stock trades of RPM International, the multi-billion-dollar chemical company his family owns.
According to financial disclosure records reviewed by The Alaska Current, Sullivan sold off shares in the company after closed-door briefings from federal health officials on COVID-19, before the full economic impact of the pandemic became clear to the public. He also made two other sell-offs timed ahead of weak earnings reports and two more that were reported outside the 45-day window required by the STOCK Act.
Here’s the breakdown of the new claims:
After meeting with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials in early 2020 to discuss COVID-19 preparedness—giving regular updates on social media to Alaskans that sought to calm fears and focus attention on China—Sullivan reported selling off up to $100,000 in RPM stock. That came at a time, too, when RPM, which is helmed by Sullivan’s brother, was publicly signaling steadiness or even growth.
The sale was made on Feb. 27, 2020, about two weeks before COVID-19 restrictions decimated the global economy, sending RPM’s stock tumbling by about a third.
Sullivan is far from alone in making big-ticket stock trades ahead of COVID-19, and a 2020 investigation by the Campaign Legal Center found that lawmakers profited handsomely by making well-timed trades after getting closed-door briefings on the looming crisis. Sullivan is among the 12 senators whose trades were included in that report, totaling up to $200,000, though it didn’t include the fact that it was stock in his family’s company,
And Sullivan’s well-timed stock sales weren’t just limited to the pandemic.
On Sept. 25, 2018, Sullivan sold up to $15,000 in RPM shares a week before the company released weaker-than-expected earnings reports that sent the stock price down. A similar move happened on Nov. 30, 2022, when Sullivan sold up to $50,000 in RPM stock a month before the company reported “tepid” earnings, sending stock prices down about 6%.
Throughout his tenure in office, Sullivan has sold about $800,000 worth of RPM stock. According to his most recent disclosure, he has up to $5 million in the company’s stock.
Sullivan’s financial disclosures also show that his late reporting of stock trades wasn’t necessarily limited to the trades at the heart of the 2022 accusations of violating the STOCK Act. A pair of trades of RPM stock sold in March and May of 2018 weren’t officially reported until late July 2018, well after the 45-day deadline to report the trades. In one comment attached to one of the late filings, Sullivan said his stock managers didn’t notify him of the trades until after the 45-day deadline, a similar excuse he used for the 2022 trades.
In total, Sullivan has made an estimated $2 million in stock trades during his time in office. According to his financial disclosure reports with the US Senate, the value of Sullivan’s assets have also grown and now range from $4.1 million to $12.3 million. Federal disclosure reports allow candidates to give a range of value rather than precise figures.
Sullivan is also the busiest stock trader in Alaska’s Congressional delegation over the past decade, well ahead of Republican US Rep. Nick Begich, who has reported up to $550,000 in transactions under the STOCK Act rules during his first term in office, including up to a $500,000 investment in a venture capital fund.
US Sen. Lisa Murkowski, former Rep. Mary Peltola, and former Rep. Don Young all reported no trades while in office.
Sullivan is considered especially vulnerable in this year’s election cycle, especially after finishing seven points behind Peltola in the state’s open US Senate primary. His business dealings have become a key part of Peltola’s campaign to unseat him, with one ad arguing that “Dan Sullivan is really good at looking out for Dan Sullivan.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
