Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) avoided more than $80,000 in losses through “well-timed stock sales” during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, unsealed court documents from 2020 show.
The details of a 2020 search warrant affidavit unsealed by the Department of Justice on Monday show that Burr prevented an estimated $87,000 in losses and profited more than $164,000 after liquidating nearly all equities from his financial portfolio in February 2020, before concerns over the pandemic ravaged the stock market. The DOJ affidavit was used to seize Burr’s cellphone as part of an insider trading investigation into whether the congressman used information about the pandemic not available to the public to execute the trades.
DOJ ORDERED TO RELEASE MORE WARRANT DETAILS IN BURR STOCK TRADING INVESTIGATION
“His portfolio went from approximately 83% in equities to approximately 3% in equities. Beginning on February 20, 2020 — six days after Senator Burr’s sale of the majority of his equity — the stock market endured a dramatic and substantial downturn,” the affidavit reads. “In total, Senator Burr avoided more than an estimated $87,000 in loss as a result of his well-timed stock sales, and profited more than $164,000.”
Burr sold more than 95% of the holdings in his individual retirement account, according to the documents, and more than half of the holdings in his wife’s account.
Gerald Fauth, Burr’s brother-in-law, also sold an estimated $160,000 in equities after speaking and texting with the congressman, who was then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to the affidavit.
The warrant affidavit was unsealed after the Los Angeles Times filed a lawsuit against the DOJ.
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Heavily redacted documents related to the investigation of Burr were previously released in June but shed little light on the evidence obtained by the FBI that triggered the execution of a search of Burr’s cellphone.
Burr was not charged by the DOJ after it concluded its investigation last year. Burr has since declined a reelection bid.
