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.
