Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

And, how many more members of Congress will be caught? How many in Trump’s administration?
They should require Congress to invest in government bonds, though they would probably figure out a way to corrupt that, too.
US Senator Dumps Stocks Before Market Plunge
By VOA News March 20, 2020 03:33 AM

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee dumped a sizable portion of his stock portfolio in February before the upheaval of COVID-19 was felt in the U.S. stock markets.

According to reports from NPR and The Washington Post, Richard Burr, a Republican senator from North Carolina, also in February, warned members of The Tar Heel Club, an exclusive group of North Carolina businessmen, about the impending chaos the virus would wreak on the stock market.

At that time, Burr and U.S. President Donald Trump were publicly expressing confidence about U.S. stocks in the face of the coronavirus.

On the same day in February that the president said the coronavirus would one day disappear “like a miracle,” Burr told the businessmen the virus was “much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” according to a recording of the meeting obtained by NPR. He told the gathering that the virus was “probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”

Burr also told the group that every company would have to alter its travel arrangements, that schools would close and there would be at least one military hospital.

Many of the shares that the senator sold were in businesses that were pummeled by the national emergency the virus caused, including health care, hotels and restaurants.

It is illegal for members of Congress, congressional staff and federal officials to use inside information to their financial advantage.

The Center for Responsive Politics was the first to report Burr’s sale of 33 stocks that he and his wife owned. The stocks were reported to be worth between $628,033 and $1.72 million, according to Senate sources.

The Senator’s office said in a statement “Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak. As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy.”
https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-senator-dumps-stocks-market-plunge

The above article was updated, but also scrubbed of important information, as can be seen below. VOA is US government owned. Did someone in government complain? Note that the better article was written in the wee hours of the morning and scrubbed by 8.40 am. VOA is public domain, which is why this blog uses it, and it is generally good for general news, but it has its moments. Like all media, it should be used with discernment.

We haven’t been able to identify the Tar Heel business club, but it seems to be important.

ProPublica: Sen. Burr Dumped Stock After Calming Public About Coronavirus
March 20, 2020 5:02 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
Sen. Richard Burr warned some constituents to prepare for COVID-19’s dire effects, according to a recording obtained by NPR. ProPublica reports Burr unloaded stock before the market volatility.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/20/818797736/propublica-sen-burr-dumped-stock-after-calming-public-about-coronavirus

Updated and scrubbed version by VOA:
2 US Senators Reportedly Dumped Stocks After COVID Briefing
By VOA News
Updated March 20, 2020 08:40 AM
U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican from Georgia, is the second senator who allegedly dumped stocks after being briefed on the financial disaster COVID-19 was likely to rain down on the stock market.  

The U.S.-based news and opinion website The Daily Beast reports Loeffler, who sits on the Senate Health Committee, got rid of “seven figures” worth of stock in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting” about the coronavirus.  

She posted on Twitter late Thursday: “I do not make investment decisions for my portfolio. Investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband’s knowledge or involvement.”
 
Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Craig Sprecher, is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

It is illegal for members of Congress, congressional staff and federal officials to use inside-information to their financial advantage.

The Daily Beast reports that Loeffler and her husband made 29 stock transactions following the Jan. 24 meeting. Only two of the transactions were sales. One investment was with a technology company that sells teleworking software.  

News of the financial moves of Loeffler came just hours after the news of similar financial moves made by Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, who attended the same January briefing. ” https://www.voanews.com/usa/2-us-senators-reportedly-dumped-stocks-after-covid-briefing