House Ethics Committee Warns Lawmakers About Insider Trading

The House Ethics Committee has warned lawmakers and staff about the dangers of "insider trading," following a news report suggesting lawmakers were using insider information to profit off the stock market.

According to a memo obtained by Fox News, the committee cautioned members of Congress and their aides about the use of "nonpublic information" for financial gain.

The memo discusses the use of nonpublic information, conflicts of interest, gifts and financial disclosure requirements. Insider-trading rules on Capitol Hill are not as stringent as they are on Wall Street. The ethics memo said lawmakers still are not supposed to trade on insider information they learn outside of their jobs.

"Members and employees may obtain material nonpublic information about a public company outside of their official duties from friends, family, acquaintances or from their own involvement with a company. If the member or employee chooses to trade on this information, they may have engaged in insider trading," the memo said.

Congress has sharpened focus on the insider trading issue after CBS' "60 Minutes" aired a special suggesting some lawmakers had benefited from insider information. The package questioned investments made by House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers.

Since then, Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and others have pushed legislation to ban insider trading on Capitol Hill.

Pelosi and Boehner have both denied wrongdoing.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.