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Senator Richard Burr announced on Tuesday that a Justice Department investigation into the stock transactions he carried out before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged financial markets was now closed, indicating the end of investigations into transactions carried out by four senators before the pandemic.
Burr, RN.C .; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California; Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla .; and incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., all sold large amounts of shares in late January and early February 2020. These deals have come under scrutiny for possible insider trading after many senators suggested that senators could have taken action based on insider knowledge. the coronavirus would become an economically destructive pandemic.
“Tonight the Department of Justice informed me that it had completed its review of my personal financial transactions made early last year,” Burr said Tuesday. “The matter is now closed. I am glad to hear it. My goal has been and will continue to work for the people of North Carolina during this difficult time for our nation.”
Senator Richard Burr, RN.C., right, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., Deputy Chairman of the committee, speak to the media after receiving sittings Closed briefing from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and Inspector General of National Intelligence Michael Atkinson, Thursday, September 26, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Burr said on Tuesday that a DOJ investigation into the pre-pandemic stock trades he made was closed. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)
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The New York Times first announced the decision not to press charges.
Burr in particular appears to be the most legally threatened of the four senators. He had the lowest net worth of any senator and sold around $ 600,000 to $ 1.7 million in stock as rumors of the pandemic began to worry members of Congress. Burr also admitted he made the stock transactions himself due to pandemic concerns – but said the moves were not based on internal Senate information.
According to Roll Call, Burr’s net worth was around $ 1.7 million in 2018.
Loeffler, meanwhile, sold millions of shares, but that was only a very small percentage of her net worth. She also noted that her investments are made by “several third-party advisers without the knowledge or knowledge of my husband or my husband.” Loeffler’s husband is Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company, Intercontinental Exchange, owns the New York Stock Exchange.
At the time, Burr said he “relied solely on public information to guide my financial decisions” and that he specifically “followed CNBC’s daily health and science reporting from its offices in Asia. “.
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During the early stages of the pandemic, as markets first adjusted to the threat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below 20,000 for the first time since 2017. The New York Stock Exchange also experienced multiple trading stops over a period of a few weeks in mid-March.
But Burr, who has said he will not stand for re-election in 2022, has continually said his transactions are made ethically and even called for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of himself.
None of the senators were reprimanded because of the allegations made about their stock trading, whether from the Justice Department or internal Senate investigations.
Jason Donner of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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