ICYMI: Questions Remain After Loeffler Supplies Documents To Federal Investigators Regarding Shady Stock Trades

Loeffler Still Refuses To Answer Whether She’s Talked To Investigators Regarding Her Stock Scandal Or Whether They Requested Her Documents

Former Federal Prosecutor Told 11 Alive News “It Is Likely” FBI Looking Into Loeffler’s Trades

In her latest “lesson in how not to manage a crisis,” unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler revealed that she turned over documents to the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee regarding her “unseemly” stock trades during the coronavirus pandemic. But Loeffler still continues to dodge reporters’ questions while refusing to answer whether or not she’s had contact with federal investigators or whether they asked her for the documents she supplied. 

Major developments this week in the federal investigation into Senator Richard Burr’s possible illegal insider trading cast an even bigger spotlight on Loeffler making a series of shady stock trades while downplaying the threat that coronavirus posed to Georgians. Loeffler began selling millions worth of stock the same day she attended an exclusive, senators-only briefing on the pandemic in late January while proceeding to invest in “a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments” and a teleworking software company. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

11 Alive: Sen. Loeffler hands over documents to Justice Department amid scrutiny on stock trades

By Ryan Kruger

• Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has turned over documents to the Justice Department after her colleague, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), found himself at the center of an FBI investigation.

• Burr and Loeffler came under scrutiny in March after reports showed each sold millions of dollars worth of stocks right after receiving confidential information about the possible COVID-19 pandemic.

• Bret Williams, a former federal prosecutor who currently has his own defense practice, says Loeffler could be in hot water.

• “If (investigators) can prove Sen. Burr was in fact trading on inside knowledge that he got from a briefing, and others seem to have done the same thing and received the same information, that could raise serious problems for them,” said Williams.

AJC: Loeffler supplies documents to DOJ, SEC, Ethics regarding stock sales 

By Tia Mitchell

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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.

The Daily Beast: Loeffler Turns Over Coronavirus Stock Sale Docs to Feds

By Lachlan Markay

• Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has provided information to federal law enforcement and financial authorities about the sales of millions of dollars of stock owned by her and her husband in the wake of a closed-door Senate briefing on the coronavirus in January, Loeffler’s office said on Thursday.

• Loeffler and her husband, New York Stock Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher, unloaded millions in equities in the weeks after that briefing, as U.S. stock markets tanked, even as the two acquired a stake in a popular teleconferencing company whose stock has increased in value since that purchase. The Daily Beast first reported those transactions in March.

• Loeffler’s sharing of that information comes as the FBI probes insider trading allegations against members of Congress who sold stocks in the weeks before the coronavirus outbreak sent markets plummeting.

• Loeffler’s office did not respond to a request to clarify the nature of her interactions with law enforcement officials.

• That campaign is pitting Loeffler against Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), a Trump ally popular with grassroots conservatives in the state. Since news of Loeffler’s stock transactions broke, Collins has surged ahead in polls in that primary contest.

MSNBC’s MTP Daily: “[The statement] didn’t address any other contact with the FBI. The senator herself also declined to answer questions on the subject.”

CBS46 Atlanta: “Loeffler has faced scrutiny for allegations of insider trading for trades made in the weeks before the coronavirus pandemic.”

Read more:

• Georgia Recorder: Loeffler provides financial records in federal ethics probe, her office says

• POLITICO: Loeffler turns over documents to SEC and DOJ amid stock-trading controversy

• The Hill: Loeffler submits stock documents to Justice Department, Ethics Committee, SEC

• Washington Examiner: Loeffler shares documents with DOJ, SEC and Senate Ethics Committee 

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