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Senators’ stock sales before the market fell, early 2020

Stock sales reported by Senators Richard Burr, Jim Inhofe and Kelly Loeffler, and by Dianne Feinstein’s husband, in the weeks before the coronavirus sent markets down. All four denied wrongdoing. The Justice Department closed its inquiries, and the SEC ended its Burr inquiry with no action.

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Dates
Jan–May 2020

Connections 6

involved

  • Richard Burr Senate records showed sales by him and his wife; he said he relied on public news reports and denied wrongdoing; agents obtained a warrant for his phone and he stepped aside as intelligence chairman Scholarship & press 12
  • Kelly Loeffler she and her husband sold and bought stock; she said third-party advisers managed the accounts Scholarship & press 1
  • Dianne Feinstein her husband’s sales were reported; she denied any involvement in the trades Scholarship & press 1
  • Jim Inhofe a disclosure showed sales; he said he had asked his adviser in 2018 to move him out of stocks Scholarship & press 1
  • U.S. Department of Justice May 2020, per AP from people familiar: told Feinstein, Loeffler and Inhofe they were no longer under investigation; its Burr inquiry also ended without charges Scholarship & press 123
  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission January 2023: told Burr it had concluded its investigation with no action According to Richard Burr Scholarship & press 2
Timeline 1 date
  1. Jan–May 2020 Senators’ stock sales before the market fell, early 2020
Proof 3 sources
  1. US closes probes into 3 senators over their stock trades, Associated Press, 26 May 2020. Scholarship & press
    Burr has acknowledged selling the stocks because of the coronavirus but said he relied “solely on public news reports,”
    Agents showed up at his Washington-area home about two weeks ago with a warrant to search his cellphone.
    Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 transactions in late January and mid-February
    Burr has denied any wrongdoing.
    Loeffler, a Republican who became a senator in January, and her husband dumped substantial portions of their portfolio and purchased new stocks around the time Congress was receiving briefings on the seriousness of the pandemic.
    Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and she has said the accounts were managed by third-party advisers.
    she has said the accounts were managed by third-party advisers.
    Feinstein reported that her husband sold off between $1.5 million and $6 million worth of stock in Allogene Therapeutics before the market drop.
    Like Loeffler, both Inhofe and Feinstein denied any wrongdoing or involvement in the trades.
    Inhofe sold anywhere between roughly $395,000 and $850,000 worth of stock he held in multiple companies in late January and early February, according to a disclosure.
    Inhofe, a Republican, tweeted in March that he had asked his financial adviser to move him out of stocks and into mutual funds in 2018
    The Justice Department has closed investigations into stock trading by Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, according to people familiar with notifications sent to the senators.
  2. Former NC Sen. Richard Burr: SEC probe into trading over with ‘no action’, Associated Press, 6 Jan 2023. Scholarship & press
    Burr drew significant attention because he was captured in a recording privately warning a group of influential constituents in early 2020 to prepare for economic devastation.
    Burr denied trading on private information, but he stepped aside from his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI obtained a search warrant to seize a cellphone.
    Burr had already been cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department of President Donald Trump's administration
    This week, the SEC informed me that they have concluded their investigation with no action
    An SEC spokesperson said later Friday that the agency doesn't comment on the opening or closing of a possible investigation.
  3. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Opposes Banning Congress Members From Owning Individual Stocks: ‘We’re a Free Market Economy’, CNBC, 15 Dec 2021. Scholarship & press
    Those probes ended without criminal charges being filed.
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