Four Senators Dumped Millions In Stock After Closed-Door Coronavirus Briefings – They Face Up To 20 Years In Prison

Anti-Trump GOP Senator Richard Burr is in deep trouble on Thursday after it was discovered the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee dumped as much as $1.72 million in hotel stocks before the coronavirus panic hit the US while reassuring the public about coronavirus preparedness.

On Thursday, ProPublica reported on Burr’s decision on February 13 to sell somewhere between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings in 33 different transactions; at the time, he was receiving daily COVID-19 briefings as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The deals included a sale of $150,000 worth of shares of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, which has since lost two-thirds of its stock price. He also sold up to $100,000 in shares of Extended Stay America — the value of those shares have since halved.

Here's where the GOP Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Richard Burr, dumped stock: https://t.co/ch51Qxg631 pic.twitter.com/rO0tbzUZL0

— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) March 19, 2020

There was another case where a GOP senator was caught selling stocks.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), whose husband is the chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, began selling off more than a million dollars in stocks on the same day as the closed-door Senate meeting on Friday, Jan. 24, reports The Daily Beast.

“Appreciate today’s briefing from the President’s top health officials on the novel coronavirus outbreak. These men and women are working around the clock to keep our country safe and healthy.” Loeffler tweeted on January 24, 2020 — Loeffler reported her first stock sale (jointly with her husband) this very same day.

Appreciate today’s briefing from the President’s top health officials on the novel coronavirus outbreak. These men and women are working around the clock to keep our country safe and healthy. #gapol https://t.co/5866TrrEFc

— Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) January 25, 2020

Ron Johnson, the senior senator from Wisconsin, reportedly sold over $5 million in stock on March 2 and the number could be as high as $25 million.

The fourth senator being accused is Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe, who reportedly sold up to $450,000 in stock in late February.

The senators were reportedly part of private briefings on the coronavirus pandemic and decided to sell their shares before the market crashed. They are being accused of insider trading and people are calling for them all to resign.

(Update)
A fifth Senator was caught for insider trading!

The mainstream media was quick to attack the GOP members as corrupt but it seems they are not alone.

Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein of California is also accused of insider trading.

Feinstein, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and her husband sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in California biotech company Allogene Therapeutics, between Jan. 31 and Feb. 18, Fox News reported.

 

When questioned by the newspaper, a spokesman for the Democrat from San Francisco said Feinstein wasn’t directly involved in the sale.

“All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust,” the spokesman, Tom Mentzer, told the Times. “She has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions.”

It doesn’ matter which party you support yous should answer for this crime.

They have to face justice for insider trading!

Members of Congress come across a lot of information in the course of their official duties. Can they use “insider information” to make a quick buck by buying and selling stock at opportune times?

The answer to this question is a resounding and unequivocal no. Statutory law forbids it, and even if it did, Congress has always had the constitutional power to discipline its Members.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act (Pub.L. 112–105, S. 2038, 126 Stat. 291, enacted April 4, 2012) is an Act of Congress designed to combat insider trading. It was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 4, 2012. The bill prohibits the use of non-public information for private profit, including insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees. It confirms changes to the Commodity Exchange Act, specifies reporting intervals for financial transactions.

The bill was introduced by Joe Lieberman, independent United States Senator for Connecticut, on January 26, 2012, and passed in the Senate by a 96–3 vote. Later the House of Representatives passed it by a 417–2 vote. The bill was supported heavily by vulnerable incumbents and signed into law by President Obama. According to the current United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics, “A member, officer, or employee of the Senate shall not receive any compensation, nor shall he permit any compensation to accrue to his beneficial interest from any source, the receipt or accrual of which would occur by virtue of influence improperly exerted from his position as a member, officer, or employee.”

The STOCK Act was modified on April 15, 2013, by S.716. This amendment modifies the online disclosure portion of the STOCK Act, so that some officials, but not the President, Vice President, Congress, or anyone running for Congress, can no longer file online and their records are no longer easily accessible to the public. In Section (a)2, the amendment specifically does not alter the online access for trades by the President, the Vice President, Congress, or those running for Congress.[ The reasoning for this change was to prevent criminals from gaining access to the financial data and using it against affected persons. This bill was introduced by Senator Harry Reid on April 11, 2013. It was considered by the Senate and passed by unanimous consent. In the house, S.716 received only 14 seconds of discussion before being passed by unanimous consent.

The main provision that was repealed would have required about 28,000 senior government officials to post their financial information online, something that had been strongly criticized by federal government employee unions. A report by the National Academy of Public Administration, published in March 2013, said that the provision could threaten the safety of government employees abroad, as well as make it difficult to attract and retain public sector employees.[13]

The amendment also eliminated the requirement for the creation of searchable, sortable database of information in reports, and the requirement that reports be done in electronic format, rather than on paper.

The maximum prison sentence for an insider trading violation is now 20 years. The maximum criminal fine for individuals is now $5,000,000, and the maximum fine for non-natural persons (such as an entity whose securities are publicly traded) is now $25,000,000.

Both the House and Senate ethics rules provide ample room to punish insider trading—and, arguably, did so even before the passage of the STOCK Act.

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