Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) leaves the Capitol after a vote in Washington, US, May 14, 2020.
Erin Scott | Reuters
The Justice Department will not criminalize Senator Richard Burr in connection with stock trading that the North Carolina Republican carried out after being briefed on Covid-19 last year, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic rocked the US economy.
Burr’s probe covered the highly unusual FBI seizure of his cell phone in May, leading to his stepping down as chairman of the powerful Senate committee that same month.
“Tonight, the Justice Department informed me that it completed its review of my personal financial transactions early last year,” Burr said in a statement Tuesday night.
“The case is now closed. I’m glad to hear that. My focus was and will continue to work for the people of North Carolina at this difficult time for our country,” said Burr.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
But a DOJ official confirmed to NBC News that the investigation had been closed.
The news came last night during President Donald Trump’s tenure.
The probe’s closure clearly ends a controversy that erupted last March, when the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic started slamming the United States.
Burr was one of many senators who raised eyebrows from stock trading in their accounts that came after they received information warning of Covid’s possible effects, but before the pandemic began to spread rapidly.
But unlike the other senators, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Dianne Feinstein of California, and Oklahoma’s James Inhofe, Burr did not deny that he decided to sell the stock himself or that concerns about the coronavirus were his primary motivation for the sale.
Only Burr was the subject of a lengthy criminal investigation by DOJ for his stock trading. The other three, who, like Burr, had denied any wrongdoing, were told in May that they would not face criminal charges.
Members of Congress are prohibited by law from using non-public information obtained through their official positions to personally take advantage of the stock market.
The STOCK Act codifying this ban was signed by President Barack Obama in 2012 after passing the Senate by 96 to 3 votes. Burr was one of three “no” votes on that bill
As Intelligence Chairman, Burr was given access to classified intelligence reports in January and February 2020 that contained stark warnings about the coronavirus.
On February 13 last year, Burr discharged shares worth $ 630,000 to $ 1.7 million, with 33 separate transactions on that one day. The stocks he sold represented a significant portion of his financial portfolio.
A week later, stock markets began to plummet in fear that the pandemic would paralyze the global economy. The clock or Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 30% of its value in the weeks following Burr’s trades.
ProPublica reported that the day Burr sold his stock, his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth himself sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock.
Fauth was appointed by Trump in 2017 to the three-member National Mediation Board, a federal agency that helps facilitate labor relations for the transportation industry.
At the time of the ProPublica report, Burr’s attorney Alice Fisher told the news broadcast that Burr had not “coordinated his decision to trade” with Fauth.
“From the outset, Senator Burr has focused on an appropriate and thorough assessment of the facts in this case, which will show that his actions were appropriate,” Fisher said at the time.
Burr had said in late March, “I relied solely on public news reports to guide my decision to sell stock.”
“In particular, I was following CNBC’s daily health and science reports from the Asian desks at the time,” he said.