Report: Ross shorted stock in Kremlin-tied firm

WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made a trade betting the stock in a shipping company with Russian-government ties would fall, a transaction coming just days after he learned of a possible negative news story about his investment in the company.

Ross reported on a government form released Monday, as required by federal ethics rules, that he shorted stock in Navigator Holdings in October. The New York Times reported Tuesday the transaction came three business days after a Times reporter submitted questions to Ross about Navigator. The transaction, listed as worth between $100,000 and $250,000, was first reported Monday by Forbes.

Ross rebuffed any suggestions he shorted the Navigator stock based on confidential information to make a profit. He said the transaction was part of his effort to divest from Navigator and that he did not stand to gain if the stock fell, or lose if it rose, at the time.

In short selling, a person borrows shares of a stock and sells them. The aim is to then replace the borrowed shares with others bought later at a lower price, reaping a profit from the difference.

Navigator counts a Russian gas producer with ties to the Kremlin among its major customers.

As Commerce chief, Ross is the Trump administration’s point man on trade and manufacturing. His spokesmen said in November that Ross planned to completely divest from Navigator, although he wasn’t required to do so under his ethics agreement as an incoming Cabinet member, because he wanted to avoid any possible perception of a conflict of interest.

Ross says now he has completely divested his Navigator holdings.

In a statement Tuesday, Ross said it would be “completely false” to imply the transactions involved insider trading using nonpublic information. The Times reporter “contacted me to write about my personal financial holdings and not about Navigator Holdings or its prospects,” he said.