Posted on 03/29/2020 8:50:02 PM PDT by Kevin in California
Federal law enforcement officials are reportedly investigating a series of stock market transactions that were made by U.S. lawmakers prior to the stock market tanking as a result of the coronavirus rapidly spreading throughout the U.S.
“The inquiry, which is still in its early stages and being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has so far included outreach from the FBI to at least one lawmaker, Sen. Richard Burr, seeking information about the trades, according to one of the sources,” CNN reported. “Public scrutiny of the lawmakers’ market activity has centered on whether members of Congress sought to profit from the information they obtained in non-public briefings about the virus epidemic.”
CNN added that there is “no indication that any of the sales, including Burr’s, broke any laws or ran afoul of Senate rules.”
Other senators who have come under scrutiny include Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Jim Inhofe (R-OK).
“Congress passed the Stock Act in 2012, which made it illegal for lawmakers to use inside information for financial benefit,” CNN added. “Under insider trading laws, prosecutors would need to prove the lawmakers traded based on material non-public information they received in violation of a duty to keep it confidential.”
It was never intended to be a career. We were meant to have citizen legislators who gave up a piece of time out of their lives for love of country and then return to their lives and homes.
It’s why it’s called the good old boy club.
I said that law is about receiving information where a specific company is named. Are you saying they were briefed on specific companies? In other words they were told "American Airlines will take a huge drop" or even "Airline stocks are going down"? If not, then it is not what that law is about, nor is it insider trading. Period. I assume they were NOT briefed on specific companies. The idea is ridiculous.
If they drew their own conclusions on what to sell based on the coronavirus then they were no different than anyone else drawing the same conclusions.
Also, where are you getting information about what stocks they sold? I don't think that's publicly known. Are you lying?
The idea that were or may have been briefed on the effect of coronavirus on specific companies is ludicrous.
BURR LIQUIDATED HIS ENTIRE PORTFOLIO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.