In the world of congressional stock trading, there’s a new leader, particularly in the realm of AI chipmaker Nvidia.
Representative Ro Khanna from Silicon Valley achieved a remarkable 143% return on an investment ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 in Nvidia stock. This savvy investment was made by his wife in February 2024, just before the federal CHIPS Act significantly boosted the company’s stock value.
The strategic trade by Khanna, a progressive Democrat known for collaborating with Senator Bernie Sanders on a national billionaire tax, caught the attention of Anthony Pompliano. Pompliano analyzed the trading activities of congressional members involved with AI-related stocks.
The profitable Nvidia shares are part of a multi-million dollar trust managed by Khanna’s wife, Ritu, an heiress with her family’s roots in Transtar Industries Inc., a company specializing in automotive transmission distribution.
Pompliano’s research raised questions about Khanna’s potential access to insider information, given his role as a ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems, which handles defense AI procurement.
Despite the success with Nvidia, Khanna’s overall portfolio in 2025 slightly lagged behind the market, indicating that his Nvidia investments are significantly bolstering his performance.
“I have been a leader to ban Congressional stock trading, do not trade, and have no input in the trades filed by my wife’s trust,” Khanna wrote in his own defense on X.
The progressive rep is ranked as the most active Democratic trader in the House of Representatives — with more than $600 million in trading volume across a staggering 37,172 trades, according to Quiver Quantitative.
Data on Khanna’s total returns weren’t immediately available, but the site shows the rep buying up shares in Albertson’s, Berkshire Hathaway, Blackrock Financial, Coinbase and other valuable firms throughout February.
Critics have blasted Khanna as hypocritical for railing against the ultra-wealthy while profiting handsomely from his family investments.
“Nancy Pelosi is rich and everyone knows it — she doesn’t try to hide it. Ro tries to be a man of the people,” said Ethan Agarwal, who’s challenging Khanna for his congressional seat.
“It’s the hypocrisy of it is that’s causing such a stir.”
Chamath Palihapitiya, a prominent venture capitalist and critic of the billionaire tax, called Khanna a “terrible representative of Silicon Valley.”
“The sad thing is that Ro is the guy preaching for socialism while he is the most active insider trader in Congress,” he wrote on X.
Khanna’s wealth and work in Congress have been scrutinized before. A 2022 New York Times investigation found significant potential conflicts between Khanna’s congressional work and family’s interest, calculating a 15% overlap between his legislative work and family holdings.
“It’s legal, but does that mean you’re forced to trade? No one’s forcing you to do this,” Agarwal said.
“He thinks people are stupid.”
Other representatives with hefty AI-related investment returns include Pelosi — whose husband’s stock returns are so exceptional they are widely copied through an online “Pelosi Tracker” — as well as Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Michael McCaul and Markwayne Mullin, as well as Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields.
Congress has tried and failed over the years to rein in stock trading by members.
A Republican-led bill called the Stop Insider Trading Act would add restrictions on stock trading, though Democrats have criticized the measure as filled with loopholes.
