June 11 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband lost as much as $1 million on American International Group Inc. shares after they plummeted last year, according to her financial disclosure report.

Shares of New York-based AIG, the insurer bailed out by the federal government, fell to $1.57 at the end of 2008 from $56.30 at the beginning of the year. AIG rose 1 cent to $1.61 at 12:20 p.m. today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Pelosi said today there was no need to restrict investments by members of Congress, who voted to authorize government assistance to financially troubled firms such as AIG. Members of Congress couldn’t anticipate the need for such bailouts when they made their investments, she said.

“Who would have ever thought that AIG, this giant of an industry, would come to the place where the U.S. government had to bail it out?” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference in Washington. “When it became a company that was receiving funds, we divested ourselves of that, but for a long time AIG was a thriving company.”

Pelosi, a California Democrat, reported that her husband, Paul, a businessman and investor, sold between $1,000 and $15,000 in AIG shares and took a loss of $100,000 to $1 million. She reported that he owned between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of New York-based AIG stock at the end of 2007.

Pelosi’s spokesman, Brendan Daly, confirmed the transactions listed in a report posted yesterday on Legistorm, an independent Web site that carries public documents connected to Congress.

Document Release

The House and Senate plan to release members’ documents tomorrow. The House forms were made accessible prematurely on the Web, and access was blocked when officials realized the error, House Administration Committee spokesman Kyle Anderson said. Legistorm said it downloaded the documents before House officials blocked access to them.

On their financial disclosure forms, lawmakers list the value of property or stock holdings within financial ranges instead of giving specific amounts.

The husband of West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito lost much of his stake in Citigroup Inc. She reported that Citigroup stock owned by her husband, Charles, which was worth between $1 million and $5 million a year ago, dipped to between $100,000 and $250,000 after he sold between $100,000 and $250,000 of his holdings. Capito spokesman Jonathan Coffin confirmed the figures.

Less Than a Fourth

New York-based Citigroup was unchanged at $3.48 at 12:20 p.m. today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock traded for $6.71 at the end of 2008, less than a fourth of its $28.92 share price at the start of the year.

Democratic Representative James McDermott of Washington reported selling 1,000 shares of AIG in December for $1,453.49, a loss of $55,389.69, according to his disclosure form on Legistorm. McDermott spokesman Mike DeCesare, who confirmed the sale, chuckled when asked why the congressman decided to sell AIG stock. “Cause it was doing so well,” he quipped.

Democratic Representative John Dingell of Michigan and his wife, Deborah, also dumped shares in AIG and Citigroup. Dingell reported that his wife sold her AIG holding in December for $366.99. Last year, Dingell reported that the shares were worth between $1,000 and $15,000.

Both Dingell and his wife sold shares in Citigroup in December transactions worth $3,003.78 and $1,091.74. Last year, he reported each holding was worth between $1,000 and $15,000.

‘Not the Only Investor’

“Congressman Dingell is not the only investor who decided to cut his losses with AIG and Citigroup,” said Adam Benson, a spokesman for Dingell who confirmed the filing on Legistorm.

Dingell, who is active in the effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, owns shares in the New Jersey-based drugmakers Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick and Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, according to his disclosure form. Each holding is valued at between $1,000 and $15,000.

Dingell also reported similarly valued holdings for himself and his wife in Stryker Corp., a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based maker of medical devices.

“Congressman Dingell has fought for quality, affordable health care for more than 50 years,” Benson said. “That position pre-dates any stock holdings he has now.”

Most of the Pelosis’ holdings are in Paul Pelosi’s name. The two jointly owe between $5 million and $25 million on a vineyard and house in Helena, California, according to the documents. The facility is valued at $5 million to $25 million and earned from $100,000 to $1 million last year from grape sales.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 11, 2009 12:42 EDT