Tags: Congress

The head of the House financial services committee, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, is under investigation for possibly violating insider trading laws.

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Bachus has established himself among advisors as an enemy of Dodd-Frank reform and one of the leading figures associated with "starving" the SEC -- itself a factor in the regulator's recent flirtation with handing RIA oversight to FINRA or another entity.

He is now under scrutiny after the Office of Congressional Ethics caught "numerous" suspicious trades on his financial records late last year.

Trading on classified information is not technically illegal for lawmakers, who can also theoretically vote in favor of their own portfolios.

Nonetheless, the House has moved to ban such practices amid widespread public outcry.

Bachus appears to have made $5,000 shorting the U.S. economy after a 2008 briefing indicated that conditions were dire.

His trades were not always successful, with his net worth shrinking 52% over the last seven years.