FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed a six-figure investment in Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, more than six months after the deadline set by federal ethics law, according to a report by NOTUS. The lapse has reopened a battle over stock trading by senior officials and raised questions about a potential conflict of interest.
Patel bought between $100,001 and $250,000 in shares of Strategy on Nov. 21, 2025. He didn’t report the trade to federal regulators until May 26, 2026, a gap of more than 180 days. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires senior department officials to disclose individual stock trades over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction.
In his May 26 letter to the Office of Government Ethics, Patel said the trade had been “inadvertently omitted” from a previous filing. Two days later, Deputy Attorney General William Taylor attributed the omission to a miscommunication, and an FBI official told NOTUS that the late reporting was “unrealized and inadvertent.”
First time violators of the STOCK Act face a $200 fine. The Justice Department, which would issue or waive the penalty, has not fined Patel. The bureau said the corrected filing was reviewed and approved by a DOJ ethics official.
Why Patel’s stock omission is attracting attention
Strategy, the firm led by Michael Saylor, pioneered the company’s Bitcoin treasury model and has more than 760,000 BTC. The stock acts as a proxy for the price of Bitcoin, making it one of the most direct routes to a Bitcoin bet through a brokerage account. Strategy’s shares have lost about half their value since the date of Patel’s purchase.
The company’s identity is at the heart of the concern. The FBI, under Patel, plays a central role in cryptocurrency enforcement, and Patel has promoted that record.
In a June 19 post on X, he warned crypto fraudsters that “this FBI will find you and we will bring you to justice.” Weeks before his purchase, he had announced a lawsuit that seized about $15 billion
Strategy has done millions of dollars in business with the Justice Department, of which the FBI is a part, along with the Health and Human Services, Defense and State departments, over the past decade, according to the report.
Taylor maintained that Patel’s stake does not create a conflict of interest with his oversight of the agency.
Patel is not an outlier. Vice President JD Vance disclosed up to $500,000 in Bitcoin, and President Trump and his sons reported more than $1 billion in crypto-related income last year.