Georgia U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler has supplied records about stock trading on her behalf to the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee, her office announced.
The documents and information are centered on “establishing that she and her husband acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law,” a Loeffler spokeswoman said in a statement late Thursday.
“The documents and information demonstrated her and her husband’s lack of involvement in their managed accounts, as well the details of those accounts. Senator Loeffler has welcomed and responded to any questions from day one,” the spokeswoman said.
The statement did not say whether Loeffler had volunteered the information or been asked to provide it by federal investigators, who have looked into transactions made by at least two other senators.
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr announced Thursday that he was stepping down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday night that federal agents used a search warrant to seize a cellphone Burr owned and had also asked Apple to provide access to his iCloud account.
A spokeswoman for Loeffler told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier Thursday that the senator has not been served any search warrants. Loeffler’s team did not say whether she, her husband or their representatives had been questioned by investigators or served with any subpoenas.
Burr, a North Carolina Republican, announced Thursday that he was stepping down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in order to avoid being a distraction while he is under investigation.
He sold off a large portion of his stock holdings at the same time that the Intelligence Committee was receiving daily briefings on the COVID-19 outbreak. Burr said those decisions were guided by news reports available to anyone and not insider information.
He had previously requested that the Senate Ethics Committee investigate his transactions to ensure there is no wrongdoing.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein told reporters Thursday that she had also been questioned by the FBI.
Feinstein, a Democrat from California, has said that the trades that were criticized were made on her husband’s behalf and that all her assets are in a blind trust.
Loeffler is married to Jeff Sprecher, the founder of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange. She said that advisers acting independently handle stock trading on the couple’s behalf and that they are not informed until after the fact.
Documents filed with the U.S. Senate show that Loeffler sold off large quantities of stocks in individual companies in the days and weeks immediately after she attended a Jan. 24 senators-only briefing on COVID-19. She said later that no secret information was shared at that meeting.
Georgia’s other U.S. senator, David Perdue, has faced a lesser degree of scrutiny about his stock transactions. He did not respond to the AJC’s questions about whether he or his representatives had been contacted by investigators.
His financial reports showed that transactions made on his behalf increased at the same time that the virus was spreading and the markets became volatile. Perdue’s advisers purchased stocks in companies that stood to fare well during the pandemic, such as DuPont de Nemours, a chemical company that also makes personal protective equipment.
Both Loeffler and Perdue have since announced they will stop buying and selling stocks in individual companies. They each sold off nearly all the stocks they owned.
Read more: Kelly Loeffler says she will stop trading stocks in individual companies
Also: U.S. Sen. David Perdue says his advisers won’t trade individual stocks
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