On Thursday, 11Alive news reported another round of oddly timed stock trades by Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) – this time linked to the opioid crisis – and that Perdue made “substantial profits” from the trades.
“Almost five years ago, the US Senate Judiciary Committee met to examine the opioid crisis for the first time,” said Doug Richards. “It was January 27, 2016. Seven days before the hearing, [Perdue] bought over a thousand dollars worth of stock in a medical device company called Halyard Health. One of Halyard’s specialties was pain management alternatives to opioids.
According to the report, Perdue did not attend this specific hearing. However, “Four times in the week leading up to the Jan. 27 opioid hearing – Jan. 20, 21, 25, 26 – records show Perdue made four separate purchases of Halyard shares – valued at between $ 4,004 and $ 60,000. The Congressional records are deliberately vague on the exact values. And Perdue continued to buy. Records show he bought shares in the same company six more times until the end of February 2016. In total, his purchases of Halyard shares were valued at $ 150,000, according to congressional records.
Perdue has faced a storm of questions regarding stock trading as he heads for a run-off against Democrat Jon Ossoff who could decide on control of the Senate. Records also show that he bought shares in tech banking firm Cardlytics before the big stock price changes he may have been aware of, and that he also traded in a stock market with a company that manufactures nuclear submarine equipment while chairing a sub-committee that directed defense contracts. .
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