Scott Bessent failed to report husband’s JPMorgan stock holdings, again

Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary overseeing the world’s largest economy, has run into a compliance problem that is, by Washington standards, almost comically mundane. His husband held between $100,000 and $250,000 in JPMorgan Chase stock. That stock was never properly disclosed. It took months to catch the error, and when it was finally corrected, Bessent paid a $200 late-filing fee. For a man managing a personal fortune exceeding $228 million, the fine is basically a rounding error. What actually happened The problem traces back to Bessent’s Senate confirmation process in early 2025. Financial filings submitted during that period listed the JPMorgan Chase position held by his husband, John Freeman, as cash rather than equity, with the value estimated at between $1 million and $5 million in the nominee filing. That misclassification sat undetected until July 2025, when the error came to light. Freeman sold the shares on July 14, 2025, shortly after the discrepancy was identified. Bessent then missed the reporting window for disclosing that sale, triggering the $200 late-filing penalty. Treasury ethics official Mark Vetter attributed the confusion to outside counsel handling th...