Insider trading on the coronavirus threat?

[lpetrich]

That's what it seems like for some Senators. Like Richard Burr (R-NC):

Senator Dumped Up to $1.6 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness — ProPublica - "Intelligence Chair Richard Burr’s selloff came around the time he was receiving daily briefings on the health threat."

Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 29 separate transactions.

As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

A week after Burr’s sales, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since.

U.S. spy agencies monitor coronavirus spread, concerns about India: sources - Reuters - 2020 Feb 27

U.S. intelligence agencies are monitoring the global spread of coronavirus and the ability of governments to respond, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, warning that there were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak.

Senator Richard Burr Warned Of Coronavirus Effects In Private Meeting : NPR

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned a small group of well-connected constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects of the coronavirus, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.

The remarks from U.S. Sen. Richard Burr were more stark than any he had delivered in more public forums.

On Feb 27, Trump had this to say:

"It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear," the president said then, before adding, "it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens.

But on the same day, Burr had this to say:

"There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," he said, according to a secret recording of the remarks obtained by NPR. "It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."

 

[Metaphor]

Add Senator Loeffler:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing

 

[lpetrich]

Robert Faturechi on Twitter: "NEW: After assuring the public about the government's coronavirus preparedness, Senate Intel chair Richard Burr, in one day, sold off up to $1.6 million is stock.
A week later, the market began its fall.
His committee was receiving daily briefings. https://t.co/LlMDnKnYoQ" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "As Intel chairman, @SenatorBurr got private briefings about Coronavirus weeks ago.
Burr knew how bad it would be. He told the truth to his wealthy donors, while assuring the public that we were fine.
THEN he sold off $1.6 million in stock before the fall.
He needs to resign. https://t.co/IAITMbJ3R5" / Twitter

I'm reminded of this: User Clip: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "Corruption Game" | C-SPAN.org - AOC questioned the witnesses about what sorts of corruption that she could get away with if she wanted to.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: " https://t.co/l1jQnspP3B" / Twitter
noting
Acyn Torabi on Twitter: "Tucker Carlson calls for Senator Burr to resign and await prosecution for insider trading if he cannot provide a reasonable explanation for his actions. He goes on to say it appears that Senator Burr betrayed his country in a time of crisis https://t.co/q7yJa5wjuA" / Twitter

 

[repoman]

Good going, Tucker.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It is stomach-churning that the first thoughts these Senators had to a dire & classified #COVID briefing was how to profit off this crisis.
They didn’t mobilize to help families, or prep response. They dumped stock.
Sen. Loeffler needs to resign, too. https://t.co/3lx1Bjt4be" / Twitter
noting
Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing

The Senate’s newest member sold off seven figures worth of stock holdings in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting on the novel coronavirus that subsequently hammered U.S. equities.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Health of the United States, on the coronavirus.

Senator Kelly Loeffler on Twitter: "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" / Twitter

The first of their stock sales was for a company named Resideo Technologies. I checked on it, and it offers home accessories like thermostats, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air-filtering systems, ventilation systems, security systems, doorbells, leak detectors, "smart home" apps, ...

Its stock dropped to 1/2 its pre-COVID-19 value, more than the Dow Jones, which dropped by 1/3.

Stock that she bought was in Citrix, a company that makes telework software. It got a bit of a bump recently. I remember using Citrix WinFrame(?) some 25 years ago, to get some server's Windows app's windows on my office computer. Seems like Citrix is still making software for doing stuff like that.

Kelly Loeffler on Twitter: "Democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the American people on #Coronavirus readiness.
Here’s the truth: @realDonaldTrump & his administration are doing a great job working to keep Americans healthy & safe. https://t.co/DaDX5wpeUj" / Twitter

Senator Kelly Loeffler on Twitter: "Concerned about #coronavirus? Remember this:
The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle #COVID19 & keep Americans safe.
Update following meeting with @realdonaldtrump, @VP, & [MENTION=450]steve[/MENTION]nMnuchin1: https://t.co/H9t2D6x19k" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Resideo Technologies stuff is the sort of stuff that one buys if one has money to spare. Thus its stock dropping because so many people suffer financial crunches.

Miranda- #LindseyGrahamIsAFraud on Twitter: "@AOC @waltshaub Hey @AOC! Sen. Loeffler is married to the Chairman of the NYSE." / Twitter

ImaChecking on Twitter: "@AOC Interesting how she down played the Coronavirus being a threat after she sold her holdings based on Insider Knowledge
Sen Loeffler needs to go to jail! More than resign!" / Twitter

Sen. Loeffler to help oversee CFTC, which oversees husband's company

• After joining the Senate, Kelly Loeffler won assignment to the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which is regulated by the CFTC.
• Loeffler, a Republican, was appointed to the Senate by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Roza Calderón on Twitter: "These Senators sold their stocks between Jan-Feb after private briefing on #COVID19 on Jan. 24th to illegally avoid market crash
@SenFeinstein(D-CA)
[url]https://t.co/g4ejHrxp9e
@SenatorLoeffler(R-GA)
@SenatorBurr(R-NC)
@RonJohnsonWI(R-WI)
@JimInhofe(R-OK) https://t.co/QUhh5zMgYQ" / Twitter[/url]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Sold a Biotech Stock Near Its 2020 Low - Barron's
Republican Jim Inhofe dumped up to $450,000 in stock — the fourth GOP senator implicated in scandal: report – Raw Story

 

[Bronzeage]

Why should resigning from office shield anyone from prosecution for insider trading?

Would the Feds have let Martha Stewart go free if she agreed to quit her cooking show?

 

[lpetrich]

Jamie Dupree on Twitter: "Here's a sale about the same time by Sen. Dianne Feinstein D-CA. In terms of price, Allogene Therapeutics was around $22/share for that sale. It's now $20.29/share. https://t.co/FIEjfKlTLe" / Twitter

So it didn't drop much.

Mark Manum on Twitter: "@jamiedupree Stock was in 30s last year and she sells at 22. It’s a small portion of her wealth. She was consistently warning about covid-19, not cheerleading the economy. Doesn’t fit the pattern." / Twitter

Steve Timmer on Twitter: "@jamiedupree @rljourno This is a clinical stage bio-technology company. Not a huge candidate to dump under the circumstances." / Twitter

ChicagoV™ on Twitter: "@jamiedupree This is not a sale by Diane. It's a sale by Diane's husband's investment firm Blum Capital Partners." / Twitter

Anne C Love is Love on Twitter: "@jamiedupree "Allogene Therapeutics is a biotechnology company with a mission to catalyze the next revolution in cancer treatment through the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy directed at blood cancers and solid tumors."" / Twitter

So DF may not be as guilty as RB or KL rather obviously are.

Jamie Dupree on Twitter: "In a report filed today, Sen. Ron Johnson R-WI with a very large stock sale earlier this month. https://t.co/c9QbjYOcPa" / Twitter

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Why should resigning from office shield anyone from prosecution for insider trading?

Would the Feds have let Martha Stewart go free if she agreed to quit her cooking show?

Well no, he should still go to jail, but he should also quit the government first. Also, he's a rich white guy, so the odds of him facing any legal consequences are quite low.

 

[SLD]

It’s despicable, but it’s not illegal. They aren’t insiders, and they weren’t given specific financial information about the stock itself. Lots of people learn things ahead of the market, but illegal market trading is rather narrowly defined.

SLD

 

[ruby sparks]

It’s despicable, but it’s not illegal. They aren’t insiders, and they weren’t given specific financial information about the stock itself. Lots of people learn things ahead of the market, but illegal market trading is rather narrowly defined.

SLD

What about the STOCK Act?

"In May 2007, a bill entitled the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act was introduced that would hold congressional and federal employees liable for stock trades they made using information they gained through their jobs..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading

 

[ZiprHead]

Why should resigning from office shield anyone from prosecution for insider trading?

Would the Feds have let Martha Stewart go free if she agreed to quit her cooking show?

Martha Stewart was convicted of lying to the feds, not insider trading. Those charges were dropped.

 

[Elixir]

What about the STOCK Act?

"In May 2007, a bill entitled the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act was introduced that would hold congressional and federal employees liable for stock trades they made using information they gained through their jobs..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading

We (Americans) are all "insiders" to some extent, but we are not all privy to specific information because of being in the employ of the American public in positions that require advance notice of things that will influence specific stock prices. But it didn't take a Ouiji board for any of us to know that there was great potential for a stock crash, as soon as the votes were tallied in 2016 and it was public knowledge that a known racist fraudster and career criminal was going to be installed in the White House. If there was any doubt, it should have been erased when he stole $1,500,000,000,000.00 and gave most of it to his donors and the Companies they control. And when those Companies used the money to buy back their own stock, that should have been the last straw for all but the greediest investors.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Why should resigning from office shield anyone from prosecution for insider trading?

Would the Feds have let Martha Stewart go free if she agreed to quit her cooking show?

Well no, he should still go to jail, but he should also quit the government first. Also, he's a rich white guy, so the odds of him facing any legal consequences are quite low.

The best we can hope for is tar and feathering. He should be hung as an example. What a fucking asshole that guy is.

 

[ZiprHead]

US drugmaker doubled price on potential coronavirus treatment

The only US drugmaker that makes a potential treatment for the coronavirus that was touted by President Donald Trump raised the price by almost 100 per cent in January, as the virus caused havoc across China.

Rising Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey based company, increased the price of chloroquine — an antimalarial, which is one of the drugs that is being tested against Covid-19 — on January 23, according to data from research firm Elsevier. The drug price rose 97.86 per cent to $7.66 per 250mg pill and $19.88 per 500mg pill.

But Rising said the price rise was “coincidental” and it restored the old price once it realised that the drug might be in demand because of the outbreak. The reversal of the price lift has not yet shown through in the data.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The GOP disease has metastasized in America.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

It’s despicable, but it’s not illegal.

Actually, it is.

They aren’t insiders

Yes, they are.

and they weren’t given specific financial information about the stock itself.

Irrelevant, but likely part of any attempted defense.

Lots of people learn things ahead of the market, but illegal market trading is rather narrowly defined.

Not exactly.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

It’s despicable, but it’s not illegal. They aren’t insiders, and they weren’t given specific financial information about the stock itself. Lots of people learn things ahead of the market, but illegal market trading is rather narrowly defined.

SLD

What about the STOCK Act?

"In May 2007, a bill entitled the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act was introduced that would hold congressional and federal employees liable for stock trades they made using information they gained through their jobs..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading

Spot on. Though some have argued that its intent was to prevent those in power to unduly influence markets through their power, and then profit off of that influence, so we may see a lot of barking along those lines.

 

[jonatha]

Add Senator Loeffler:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing

Matthew Levine at Forbes notes that whereas Burr's gross on his sale is a substantial fraction of his net work, Loeffler's is not. She's worth about $500 million and the amount of the transaction was trivial in comparison. She has also stated that her money is managed by a third party and that neither she nor her husband have any input on specific transactions.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Add Senator Loeffler:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing

Matthew Levine at Forbes notes that whereas Burr's gross on his sale is a substantial fraction of his net work, Loeffler's is not. She's worth about $500 million and the amount of the transaction was trivial in comparison. She has also stated that her money is managed by a third party and that neither she nor her husband have any input on specific transactions.

Uh huh. That sounds credible. It's a lucky coincidence for her that this random third party just happened to sell off a bunch of her stock portfolio right after this briefing she had.