Dems request insider trading investigation into top Trump adviser

Eight Democratic senators requested Tuesday that government regulators open an investigation into top presidential adviser Carl Icahn for allegedly using his position to conduct insider trading and manipulate the renewable energy markets.

“We are writing to request that your agencies investigate whether Carl Icahn violated insider trading laws, anti-market manipulation laws, or any other relevant laws based on his recent actions in the market for renewable fuel credits,” the senators wrote in a letter addressed to Commodity Futures Trading Commission acting Chairman Christopher Giancarlo, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

The senators said Icahn could have used information unavailable to the public to benefit the petroleum refining company that he is majority owner of or make trade decisions that would profit CVR Energy.

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“We have no way of knowing at this time whether Mr. Icahn made any of his renewable fuel credit trades or decisions about trades based on material, non-public information or otherwise manipulated the market,” the senators wrote. “But the publicly available evidence is troubling, and based on this evidence, we ask that your agencies investigate whether Mr. Icahn’s conduct violated any laws under your jurisdiction.”

In a statement accompanying the letter, the senators pointed to a decisions Icahn made that led to the drop in price of renewable fuel credit, which they claim allowed his company to sell the credits high and rebut them a lower price.

“Public reports in February 2017 then indicated that Mr. Icahn, in his role as a special advisor, proposed to the White House a number of changes to the renewable fuel credit program that drove down prices — all while his company was dumping credits to buy back later at a cheaper price,” the statement reads.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) signed the letter.

They wrote the CFTC, SEC and EPA “because these agencies maintain jurisdiction over insider trading and market manipulation of renewable fuel credits and other securities and commodities laws.”