Bryan Bedford, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, maintained a multimillion-dollar financial stake in an airline company his agency regulates for more than seven months after he took the top job, despite saying he’d fully divest within 90 days.
This week, Bedford disclosed the sale of $5 million to $26 million worth of airline stock in February, raising questions of whether he maintained a financial conflict of interest well into his tenure as FAA administrator and violated an ethics agreement he signed ahead of his confirmation.
"This appears to be a serious matter,” Foundation for Aviation Safety Executive Director Ed Pierson said in a statement.
The foundation, he said, “expects FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, and all government officials, to fully comply with the law and to avoid any potential financial conflicts of interest. Unethical and/or illegal behavior has no place in the aviation industry.”
