WASHINGTON (AP) - A medical device company in which congressman Tom Price purchased stock last year agreed this month to a $17 million Justice Department criminal penalty in a foreign bribery case.
Democrats are challenging President-elect Donald Trump's pick for health secretary on his investments and potential conflicts of interest.
Price bought stock last year in Zimmer Biomet, a medical device maker. The acquisition came around the same time the Georgia Republican introduced legislation to suspend Medicare rules seen as problematic for such companies.
Price said at his confirmation hearing he did nothing wrong. A Price spokesman said Price had been working on the bill for months.
A Trump transition spokesman says "any effort to link Dr. Price's investment portfolio to a company's legal troubles is nonsensical, absurd and insulting."
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