In 2025, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reported the sale of shares in Luminar Technologies, an enterprise known for its lidar technology products. These transactions took place against the backdrop of Luminar's insolvency and transition off the Nasdaq exchange to over-the-counter (OTC) markets.
According to records compiled by a government trades monitoring service, two sales of Luminar stock occurred precisely by the senator's spouse, Elaine Chao, though disclosures attribute ownership to Senator McConnell under statutory requirements. The initial sale dated June 26, 2025, involved a monetary range between $15,000 and $50,000 of Luminar shares. Later in the year, on December 24, a further disposition of shares ranged between $1,000 and $15,000.
Elaine Chao, who has held high-ranking federal roles including Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation, was appointed to Luminar's Automotive Council in April 2025. This involvement preceded the sales and occurred amid the company's financial challenges.
Looking back to late 2024, Senator McConnell reportedly held an equity stake valued between $15,000 and $50,000 as per annual asset declarations. It is not publicly known at what price the shares were initially acquired, making precise profit or loss calculations impossible. However, the stock's closing price at the end of 2024 stood at $5.38 per share.
The beginning of 2025 saw a temporary surge with a peak trading price at $10.40 in January. Despite this early rally, Luminar’s stock steadily declined thereafter, falling below the $5 mark by April and dramatically continuing downward. This decline culminated with the company declaring bankruptcy, leading to delisting from Nasdaq and subsequent OTC trading under the ticker LAZRQ.
By the date of the June 26 sale, Luminar shares traded at approximately $2.95—a steep 45.2% drop from the 2024 year-end close. The December 24 transaction reflected an even more precipitous slide, with shares trading as low as $0.169, representing a 96.9% loss relative to the previous year-end price.
To contextualize, if Senator McConnell maintained $15,000 worth of Luminar stock based on 2024 year-end valuations and sold this stake on December 24, 2025, at the prevailing price, the transaction would have been valued near $471. This hypothetically translates into a missed opportunity of $14,529 had the shares been liquidated prior to their crash.
The responsibility for reporting these trades falls under the senator due to legislative disclosure obligations, regardless of them being executed by his spouse. McConnell's portfolio also includes other holdings such as shares in Wells Fargo, with records indicating periodic dividend reinvestments and new acquisitions.
This sequence of events underscores the financial volatility linked to Luminar Technologies across this period, highlighting the challenges investors faced amid market upheaval and corporate distress. Notably, the sharply diminished stock value raises questions about timing of divestment and valuation management in the presence of deteriorating fundamentals and bankruptcy proceedings.
At the close of 2025, Luminar shares traded at roughly $0.076, continuing a downtrend marked by over a 90% loss from their highest previous levels. These figures emphasize the significant erosion in market capitalization impacting shareholders like Senator McConnell, as well as the broader investor community.
Further clarity on the purchase price of the shares or motivations for timing of these sales remains unavailable. Additionally, inquiries seeking comment from Senator McConnell have not yielded responses as of this writing.