Commerce Secretary Ross to Sell All Stocks After Ethics Office Warning
Source: Bloomberg News
By Bill Allison
July 12, 2018, 10:33 PM EDT Updated on July 13, 2018, 12:01 AM EDT
* Commerce secretary cited for late divestiture of assets
* Ethics chief says failure ‘undermined public confidence’
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that he would divest all his remaining equity holdings after the government’s top ethics watchdog said his failure to sell off assets that could pose a conflict of interest “created the potential for a serious criminal violation.”
In his ethics agreement, Ross, a New York businessman, had pledged to divest numerous assets, including all his holdings in Invesco Ltd., within 90 days of his confirmation, and more complex assets within 180 days.
But in reports filed in the last month by the Office of Government Ethics, Ross disclosed sales of assets which, the filings said, he had inadvertently failed to sell on time, including at least $20 million worth of Invesco shares. That led the ethics office’s acting director, David Apol, to tell Ross in a letter released Thursday that his failure to sell the assets may have “negatively affected” public trust in the Trump administration.
A review by the top ethics official in the Commerce Department of Ross’s calendars, briefing books and correspondence found no evidence that Ross violated conflict of interest laws, Apol wrote. He added, however, that “your failure to divest created the potential for a serious criminal violation on your part and undermined public confidence.”
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-13/ross-s-late-stock-sales-draw-stern-warning-from-ethics-office
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considering the rest of his compatriots refused to do so or eventually left. Very different from what Darth Cheney promised to do and what he eventually did, but at least DID do something. 
