WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will not be charged by the Department of Justice in connection with his stock sales at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the North Carolina senator said Tuesday.
“Tonight, the Department of Justice informed me that it has concluded its review of my personal financial transactions conducted early last year,” Burr said in a statement to McClatchy on Tuesday night.
“The case is now closed. I’m glad to hear it. My focus has been and will continue to be working for the people of North Carolina during this difficult time for our nation.”
The New York Times first reported the decision Tuesday.
Burr, a Republican, sold up to $1.7 million in stocks in early and mid-February, according to a Senate disclosure that he filed. Burr is a member of the Senate’s Health Committee and had received briefings about the status of the coronavirus, which had not yet made a large impact in the United States at the time.
The coronavirus has since killed more than 400,000 people in the United States.
Alice Fisher of Latham & Watkins, Burr’s attorney, said in late March that “any American — including a senator — may participate in the stock market based on public information, as Senator Burr did.”
Several other senators had similar sales investigated by officials, but none have been charged.
In early February, Burr co-wrote a column for Fox News with Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, to reassure Americans that the the country was “better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats.”
But later that month, Burr told a group at a private luncheon that he had fears about the coronavirus.
“There’s one thing I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” Burr told the group, according to audio obtained by NPR. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”
Burr turned his cellphone over to the FBI in May and then stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing the “distraction” of the ongoing investigation.
Burr, 65, is not running for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. He won reelection in 2016. Burr previously served five terms in the U.S. House, winning his first election in 1994.
The 2012 STOCK Act prohibits profiting off “any nonpublic information derived from their positions as Members or congressional employees,” according to a Library of Congress summary. Burr was one of three senators to vote against the bill.
Burr maintained that he made the trades based on “public news reports,” including health and science reporting out of Asia.
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning in March about insider trading.
“Given these unique circumstances, a greater number of people may have access to material nonpublic information than in less challenging times,” the agency’s enforcement chiefs said in a statement.
Tuesday’s announcement comes on the final full day of President Donald Trump’s term. President Joe Biden will be inaugurated Wednesday at noon Eastern time.
Fisher released a statement Tuesday night, saying Burr is “pleased” that the Department of Justice had closed the case after a “thorough review” and without any action.
“As the country continues to concentrate efforts on battling the challenges presented by COVID-19, Senator Burr’s focus will remain on the safety and security of North Carolinians and the United States as a whole,” Fisher said.
