House Ethics probes Madison Cawthorn over cryptocurrency,

The House Ethics Committee is investigating controversial Rep. Madison Cawthorn for his possibly improper promotion of a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest, the panel revealed Monday.

The committee is also investigating the North Carolina Republican over questions about whether he had an “improper relationship” with a person employed on his congressional staff, the panel said.

The Ethics Committee authorized the probe by a unanimous vote on May 11. But the panel only disclosed it six days after the 26-year-old congressman narrowly lost a GOP primary, denying him a nomination for a second term.

The loss followed an embarrassing series of events for Cawthorn. He was charged by police in North Carolina with carrying a loaded handgun at an airport and with driving with a revoked license. He also claimed he was a victim of “blackmail” following the release of a video that appeared to show him naked in bed with another man.

Cawthorn also infuriated fellow Republicans in Congress earlier this year by claiming some of his older colleagues had invited him to orgies and used cocaine in front of him.

“We welcome the opportunity to prove that Congressman Cawthorn committed no wrongdoing and that he was falsely accused by partisan adversaries for political gain,” said Cawthorn’s chief of staff, Blake Harp, in response to the Ethics probe.

Harp said that the inquiry, which will be conducted by an investigative subcommittee assembled for that purpose, “is a formality.”

“Our office isn’t deterred in the slightest from completing the job the patriots of Western North Carolina sent us to Washington to accomplish,” Harp added.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in late April called for the Ethics Committee to investigate Cawthorn for possible insider trading related to cryptocurrency. The Washington Examiner reported that Cawthorn may have broken laws barring investors from profiting on non-public information.

The cryptocurrency at issue is the Let’s Go Brandon coin, named for a derogatory phrase toward President Joe Biden.

In a Dec. 29 reply to an Instagram post featuring a photo of him with the co-founders of the coin, Cawthorn wrote, “Tomorrow we go to the moon.”

The next day, the team for NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced that the Let’s Go Brandon coin had been signed as the team’s primary partner for the 2022 season. After the announcement, the price of the cryptocurrency rose by more than 75%.

Soon afterward, the Let’s Go Brandon coin collapsed in price when NASCAR rejected its sponsorship deal with Brown.

Around the same time that Tillis urged a probe of Cawthorn, the president of a political action committee filed an ethics complaint against him for allegedly failing to file…