U.S. politician suspiciously dumped this stock just before 40% surge

U.S. Representative Cleo Fields’ stock transactions are once again under scrutiny after dumping his entire position in IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) just days before the stock staged a powerful rebound of more than 40%.

According to congressional trade disclosures filed on January 16, Fields sold between $50,001 and $100,000 worth of IREN shares on December 26, 2025.

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At the time of the transaction, IREN was trading near multi-week lows following a prolonged downturn. Price action leading up to the sale shows that the stock had fallen sharply from its early November peak above $70, sliding steadily into the mid-$30s to low-$40s range by mid-December amid elevated volatility.

However, shortly after Fields exited the position, IREN reversed direction and began a steep rally. From post-sale levels, the stock surged 43.47%, dramatically outperforming the broader market, which saw the S&P 500 gain just 0.20% over the same period.

IREN one-month stock price. Source: Finbold

The latest sale has reignited controversy surrounding Fields’ history with IREN. For instance, earlier in 2025, the lawmaker’s purchases of the stock drew attention after IREN delivered outsized gains tied to its strategic shift from bitcoin mining toward AI-focused data centers and cloud infrastructure services.

Controversy around Fields’ stock buys 

Those earlier buys were widely described by market commentators as unusually well timed, coming ahead of major upside moves, and raised questions about the optics of lawmakers trading stocks connected to sectors under congressional oversight.

Notably, there is no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal insider trading, but critics say the repeated appearance of well-timed trades has intensified concerns over potential conflicts of interest and whether current disclosure rules are sufficient. 

That scrutiny is amplified by Fields’ position on the House Committee on Financial Services, whose subcommittees oversee capital markets and financial institutions tied to sectors such as digital assets, energy-intensive infrastructure, and technology firms like IREN.

At the same time, Fields’ late-December trading was not limited to IREN. He also reported buying Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shares the same day, while fully exiting positions in Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN) and IREN and completing both partial and full sales of Figma stock, pointing to a broader year-end portfolio reshuffle.

Featured image via Shutterstock

Source: https://finbold.com/u-s-politician-suspiciously-dumped-this-stock-just-before-40-surge/