DOJ Won’t Charge Senator Richard Burr for Covid Stock Transactions

The Justice Department will not criminalize Senator Richard Burr in connection with stock trades the North Carolina Republican executed after learning about Covid-19 last year, shortly before the pandemic of coronavirus does not shake the US economy.

Burr’s investigation had included the highly unusual seizure of his cell phone by the FBI in May, and led him to step down as chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee that same month.

“Tonight, the Department of Justice informed me that it had completed its review of my personal financial transactions made early last year,” Burr said in a statement Tuesday evening.

“The case is now closed. I am happy 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,” said Burr.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

But a DOJ official confirmed to NBC News the investigation was closed.

The news came on President Donald Trump’s last night in power.

The closure of the investigation apparently ends a controversy that erupted last March, as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic began to slam the United States.

Burr was one of many senators who raised eyebrows at stock trades in their accounts after receiving information warning of the potential effects of Covid, but before the pandemic began to spread rapidly.

But unlike the other Senators, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Dianne Feinstein of California and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Burr did not deny that he had decided to sell the stock himself, nor that concerns about the coronavirus were his main motivation for selling.

Only Burr has been the subject of a DOJ-backed criminal investigation for his stock transactions. The other three, who like Burr had denied any wrongdoing, were told in May that they would not face criminal charges.

Members of Congress are legally prohibited from using the non-public information they obtain through their official positions for the personal profit of the stock market.

The STOCK Act which codified this ban was signed by President Barack Obama in 2012, after being passed by the Senate 96 votes to 3. Burr was one of three “no” votes on this law.

As president of intelligence, Burr had access in January and February 2020 to confidential intelligence reports containing stern warnings about the coronavirus.

On February 13 of last year, Burr unloaded shares valued at $ 630,000 to $ 1.7 million, with 33 individual trades completed that day. The stocks he sold were a significant part of his financial portfolio.

A week later, the stock markets began to dive for fear the pandemic would cripple the global economy. The bell if the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 30% of its value in the weeks following the Burr trades.

ProPublica reported that on the day Burr sold his shares, his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth himself sold shares for tens of thousands of dollars.

Fauth was appointed by Trump in 2017 to a seat on the three-member National Mediation Council, a federal agency that helps facilitate labor relations for the transportation industry.

At the time of the ProPublica report, Burr’s attorney, Alice Fisher, told the outlet that Burr “had not coordinated his decision to trade” with Fauth.

“From the outset, Senator Burr has focused on a proper and thorough examination of the facts in this matter, which will establish that his actions were appropriate,” Fisher said at the time.

Burr said at the end of March: “I relied solely on public information to guide my decision to sell shares.”

“Specifically, I followed CNBC’s daily health and science reporting closely from its offices in Asia at the time,” he said.