Rep. Mike Kelly reprimanded by House ethics panel over wife's stock purchase tied to steel company

The House Ethics Committee issued a formal reproval Friday of Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., following a yearslong investigation into an insider-trading allegation over his wife’s purchase of stock in a steel company in his Butler-area congressional district.

The panel also said Kelly and his wife, Victoria Kelly, should divest of any stock in the company, Cleveland-Cliffs, before the congressman takes any further official actions related to it.

While the committee said it “did not find evidence” that Kelly “knowingly or intentionally caused his spouse to trade based on insider information,” its report also said it “did not receive full cooperation from Mrs. Kelly and was therefore unable to determine whether her stock purchase was improper.”

However, the report said, “Representative Kelly’s failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the alleged misconduct” and of the investigation itself was a violation of the code of official conduct. The committee did “not find a clear violation” of conflict of interest.

The congressman said in a statement Friday, “My family and I look forward to putting this distraction behind us.”

Kelly noted the investigation has “unnecessarily” lasted for nearly five years, and in the time since the Cleveland Cliffs Butler Works plant faced an uncertain future.

“Throughout this process, I have fought for the 1,400 workers at the plant, I’ve spoken with these workers, and they appreciate the hard work we have done to fight for those jobs and for Butler,” Kelly said.

The investigation was launched after a July 2021 referral regarding allegations the congressman’s wife may have purchased stock based on confidential or nonpublic information he had learned during official duties.

The Ethics Committee staff reviewed more than 25,000 pages of documents, the report said, and interviewed people including the congressman. It found Kelly had advocated for so-called Section 232 tariffs for the product the plant produced even after Mrs. Kelly held stock in Cleveland-Cliffs.

“He took several actions to specifically benefit Cleveland-Cliffs during the time his wife had a direct financial interest in the company,” it said.