Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tells ethics office he will sell his equities

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he will sell all his equity holdings after a government ethics office noted inaccuracies and omissions in his financial disclosure reports.

Ross said in a statement issued Thursday night that he “made inadvertent errors in completing the divestitures required by [his] ethics agreement.”

He says he “worked diligently with [his] department’s ethics officials to make sure [he] avoided any conflicts of interest.”

However, the Office of Government Ethics sent Ross a letter Thursday noting that he continued to own assets that could lead to such conflicts.

Ross’ statement in response says, “To maintain the public trust, I have directed that all of my equity holdings be sold and the proceeds placed in U.S. Treasury securities.”