The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic sent financial markets in the U.S. into a tailspin, but one Republican Senator, Georgia’s Kelly Loeffler, may have ended up at least somewhat protected from major losses. Between mid-February and mid-March, as the outbreak and its hefty economic toll set in, Loeffler and her husband Jeffrey Sprecher — the chair of the New York Stock Exchange — bought and sold at least about $1.4 million in stocks altogether. There were a total of $845,000 in sales and $590,000 in purchases; the sales were focused in areas like retail, which has been hit hard amid demands for many “non-essential” businesses to close, while the purchases were in areas like the production of the personal protective equipment necessary for effectively fighting the Coronavirus.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s most recent financial disclosures show that millions of dollars in stocks were sold on her behalf at the same time Congress was dealing with the impact of the coronavirus. #gapol #gasen https://t.co/5KFiOFhdFc
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) April 1, 2020
The trades had been previously known, but the specific amounts came out in a new set of financial disclosures from the Senator. After these trades first emerged, Loeffler faced accusations of insider trading, because they largely followed private briefings for Senators about the then-incoming Coronavirus pandemic. North Carolina’s Republican Senator Richard Burr faced similar scrutiny after selling off large stock holdings in companies working in fields like travel, which has been hard hit by the pandemic — and reportedly, the Justice Department has already opened an investigation and contacted Burr.
Loeffler's husband bought $206,774 in DuPont stock… "the company is a major supplier of desperately needed personal protective gear as the global pandemic strains hospital and first responders." https://t.co/WSz8Jf9Yhg
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 1, 2020
Loeffler claims that she’s innocent of insider trading because she doesn’t handle her stock portfolio directly, she claims, although it’s still apparently unclear whether there was a chance for private information that she had to get to those who could help protect her finances, even while her colleagues publicly insisted that the U.S. had nothing to be worried about amidst the Coronavirus onslaught.
Even now, Loeffler’s team is sticking to rabid partisan animosity. Campaign spokesperson Stephen Lawson claimed:
‘These false attacks against Senator Loeffler — from the Left, from fake news media, from career politicians — are exactly why people are fed up with Washington.’
Hilariously enough, Loeffler’s Senate office spokesperson Kelly Rom claimed that her boss “continues to operate with integrity and transparency — following both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
Actually, concerned Americans would simply like their leaders to represent the public’s interest during a time of national crisis.
