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About Open Cabinet
An accountability tool that parses executive branch financial disclosure data into searchable, sortable and visual formats, tracking stock trades and potential conflicts of interest.
For data sourcing and pipeline details, see the methodology.
About the developer
Built by Trevor Brown, investigative data journalist turned web developer. 15 years of political reporting, most recently six years covering elections, dark money, financial disclosures and government accountability at Oklahoma Watch. This project bridges both worlds, journalism instinct driving a developer tool.
What this site covers
Open Cabinet shows individual-security trades disclosed via OGE Form 278-T — the periodic transaction reports senior officials must file within 30 to 45 days of a trade. It does not show every financial move an official makes. Fund and ETF trades, real-property sales and pre-service trades are exempt from 278-T reporting, and any trade an official did not report on a 278-T appears only in an annual or termination report; Open Cabinet reads those reports too and labels each such row. It does not show holdings, exempt trust assets, private equity not actively traded, or anything below the statutory $1,000 reporting threshold. Entry-disclosure holdings (Nominee 278) exist today only as a single pilot ledger; the transactions section of every posted annual and termination report (278e) is read into a labeled lane, and the holdings sections are not yet parsed. See the methodology for details.
The law
The rules these filings answer to, and what happens when a deadline is missed.
The law and the deadlines
What the STOCK Act requires, how divestiture works and what happens when officials miss their deadlines.
1
The STOCK Act
Step 1 of 6
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30-day window
3
90-day divestiture
4
Extensions
5
Late filings
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Consequences
1
The STOCK ActCongress strengthened the rules in 2012
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-521) created financial disclosure requirements after Watergate. The STOCK Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-105) added periodic transaction reporting, requiring officials to disclose individual stock trades over $1,000 within days, not just annually. The law covers both Congress and the executive branch.
2
30-day windowReport covered trades within 30 to 45 days
Officials must file a 278-T Periodic Transaction Report within 30 days of being notified of a trade or 45 days after the transaction itself, whichever comes first (5 U.S.C. §13105(l)). The 45-day mark is the hard backstop. Whichever deadline comes first governs; past it, the filing is late.
3
90-day divestitureSell your conflicts within 90 days
Before confirmation, nominees sign an ethics agreement pledging to divest holdings that conflict with their new role. They have 90 days from confirmation to complete the sales. Divestitures may qualify for tax deferral under a Certificate of Divestiture (26 U.S.C. §1043). This only covers conflicting assets. Officials can keep and trade non-conflicting stocks.
4
ExtensionsDeadlines can be extended
OGE can grant extensions on divestiture deadlines. Some assets, especially private equity, real estate LLCs and illiquid holdings, take longer to sell. Officials must request the extension and demonstrate good-faith effort. The ethics agreement remains binding.
5
Late filingsMissing the deadline is common
A "late filing" means the official certified they knew about a trade for more than 30 days before reporting it. The penalty is a $200 fee (5 U.S.C. §13106(d)) that attaches only when a report runs more than 30 days past due — flat, once per report, and waivable by the filer's agency. Business Insider's Conflicted Congress investigation identified at least 72 members of Congress violating the same deadline by 2022 and found the fee routinely waived there. In the executive branch, assessments surface only as reviewer notes on individual filings — President Trump's 2026 reports carry the annotation "Filer paid late fee." Aggregate data is not published.
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ConsequencesWhat happens when officials don't comply
Late disclosure carries a $200 fee (5 U.S.C. §13106(d)). But taking official action on matters affecting your financial holdings is a potential criminal violation under 18 U.S.C. §208. The distinction matters: late reporting is a paperwork problem; participating in decisions while financially conflicted is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison.
Other projects
Open Cabinet is one of three accountability tools built to make federal government records easier to navigate.
- Capitol Releases — a searchable archive of every press release published by all 535 members of Congress, normalized and updated four times a day.
- Delegation Decoded — congressional accountability tracking organized by state delegation: votes, legislation, committee assignments and campaign finance for all 535 members of Congress.
Using this data?
For reporting, research questions, attribution, data checks or custom pulls, contact Trevor Brown directly.
Related resources
- ProPublica: Trump Team Financial Disclosures — searchable access to raw disclosure documents for 1,500+ appointees.
- OpenSecrets: Executive Branch — financial connections between officials and the industries they regulate.
- OGE Public Disclosure Portal — the primary source for all data on this site.
Open source
Open Cabinet is open source under the MIT License. The code, data pipeline and research are available on GitHub. Found a bug or data error? Open an issue or email trevorbrown.web@gmail.com.
Report an issue
Found a data error, missing official or bug? We review every submission. Your feedback helps keep this tool accurate.
This tool is for informational and journalism purposes only. Nothing here constitutes investment advice. Asset values and transaction amounts are reported in ranges as required by federal law. This database may not include all executive branch filers, and covers only trades reported on 278-T periodic transaction reports. Data sourced from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics under the Ethics in Government Act (5 U.S.C. Section 13107). Federal government documents carry no copyright (17 U.S.C. Section 105).