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IPFS News Link • DOJ-Department of justice

Justice Department probes senators who sold stock after coronavirus briefings as intel committee...

• https://www.dailymail.co, By NIKKI SCHWAB

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reached out to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr to ask him about the series of stock transactions he made in the run-up to the coronavirus crisis. 

CNN reported Monday that the Justice Department had started to investigate the sell-off of stocks made by senators ahead of the market crash, as lawmakers were getting closed-door briefings about the threat of the virus.  

The inquiry is being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission and of the four senators who were publicly shamed for selling off stocks, a CNN source confirmed only that the FBI had reached out to Burr.

On March 19, ProPublica reported that Burr had sold off up to $1.7 million in holdings in mid-February, when he was being briefed about the coming pandemic. 

The next day, Burr responded to the reporting by sending a letter to Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford, asking for a review

Burr said he relied on 'public news reports' when making his financial decisions.   

'Specifically I closely followed CNBC's daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time,' Burr said in a statement. 'Understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight however, I spoke this morning with the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and asked him to open a complete review of the matter with full transparency.'


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