Nancy Pelosi Defies Scrutiny, Bets $2M on Nvidia

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, a venture capitalist, are back to investing big money on artificial intelligence giant Nvidia, the New York Post reports.

After dumping shares in Nvidia (NDVA) due to Congressional scrutiny of stock trading by elected officials, the sitting Democrat congresswoman recently bought 50 call options at a strike price of $120 for $2 million, according to stock trading website Unusual Whales.

Pelosi disclosed her trade in a Dec. 22, 2023 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Pelosi bet millions on $NVDA in November using call options,” Congresstrading posted on X. “Using a deceptive tactic, she purposely disclosed this on the Friday before Christmas weekend to avoid media coverage.”

The 83-year-old politician roused anger among the public and financial experts by resisting calls to back any legislation that would preclude sitting members of Congress and their spouses from buying and selling stock in publicly traded companies that they regulate.

The December trade, with an expiration date of Dec. 24, 2023, indicates that the Pelosis are bullish on the software company, according to Justin Rush, a financial planner with Nemes Rush.

A call option “grants the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy a specific quantity of an underlying asset at a predetermined price within a specific time frame,” Rush says.

“This can be advantageous when you anticipate the value of the asset will rise, allowing you to buy it at a lower, predetermined cost.”

The Pelosis reportedly have a net worth in excess of $140 million and have netted millions of dollars in call options on blue-chip companies, including Google (GOOG), Salesforce (CRM), Roblox (RBLX) and Disney (DIS).

In July 2022, the couple said they sold 25,000 sales of Nvidia at an average of $165.05 a share, for a sales price of $4.125 million. Nevertheless, the Pelosis lost $341,365 on the trade according to Benzinga, a financial news site.

Then, in September, the Pelosis sold another 50 call options on Nvidia for another loss, this time of $361,476.

At the time, Nvidia shares were rising on the news of the CHIPS Act, President Biden’s legislation aimed at boosting U.S. semiconductor companies.

The Pelosis evidently miscalculated on the two trades on the AI software giant, since NVDA rose by nearly 200% after the passage of the CHIPS Act. Had the pair held onto the stock, they could have netted $8 million.

Nancy and Paul Pelosi had not responded to a request for comment by the Post at deadline.