Tennessee Senator Bob Corker has reportedly failed to disclose millions of dollars in income from various investments since taking office in 2007.
While Senators often amend financial-disclosure forms, Corker filed dozens of corrections on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal following an inquiry by the paper over regarding irregularities in his original forms.
The Republican Senator had failed to disclose $2 million in income from three hedge fund investments and additional millions from real-estate investments as well as other assets and financial transactions, the Journal reports. The fully amended filings show at least $3.8 million in additional income between 2007 and 2014 from commercial real-estate holdings.
In a prepared statement, the Senator told Coins2Day, “I am extremely disappointed in the filing errors that were made in earlier financial disclosure reports, and after completing a full, third-party review, we have corrected this oversight.”
Corker is the third-ranking Republican serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The committee oversees the real-estate and financial-services sectors. Members of Congress have free reign in their personal investments as long as they disclose them so that the public can determine whether or not there’s a conflict of interest.
Robert Walker, former chief counsel of the Senate and House ethics committee told the Journal, “This is not a situation calling for punishment or admonition by the ethics committee.” Rather, he believes it’s a “teaching moment” to ensure that lawmakers “fully understand these requirements before filing their annual forms.”
Others disagree. Anne Weismann, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, told Coins2Day that the organization plans to request a thorough investigation into Corker’s finances. Last month, the group filed complaints with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Senate ethics committee requesting a separate investigation into Corker over potential insider trading and making false financial statements.
A spokesperson for Corker responded to the organization’s plans by saying, “These baseless accusations from a political special interest group are categorically false and nothing more than a smear campaign.”