Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler accused of selling off millions in stock before market crash

ATLANTA — There's a call for resignations and investigations after news broke that Georgia’s U.S. senators made stock trades after an early coronavirus briefing.

The article by the Daily Beast says Sen. Kelly Loeffler reported the first stock sale jointly owned by her and her husband on the day that the Senate Health Committee, a committee on which she sits, got a private coronavirus briefing from administration officials.

[MORE: Special section on the latest on coronavirus in Georgia]

She and her husband made 29 stock transactions in mid-February, before the stock market tanked, most of which were sales, according to the report.

In a tweet Friday morning, Sen. Kelly Loeffler called the accusation that she profited by selling off stock using inside information was “ridiculous and baseless” and went on to say, “investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband’s knowledge.”

Republican Rep. Doug Collins is running against Loeffler and is critical of that sale.

“I think the issue is, is it believable? She’ll have to make that case to the voters of Georgia. I think it’s very concerning when you see the perception right now. The perception seems to be reality,” Collins told Channel 2 political reporter Richard Elliot.

Democratic challenger Ed Earver criticized the sale. So did challenger the Rev. Raphael Warnock.

“it’s striking and just the kind of thing that turns people off to politics at a time when we really need to come together,” Warnock said.

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Critics have also accused Sen. David Perdue of using inside information provided to senators to profit off the sale and purchase of stocks. Something Perdue denies.

“Senator Perdue has an outside advisor managing his investments, and he goes above and beyond to fully comply with the law. (He) Is not involved in any day to day investment decisions,” a spokesman for Perdue said in a statement.

But critics like Democratic challenger Teresa Tomlinson called for his resignation.

So did Democrat Jon Ossoff, who’s challenging Perdue as well.

“When you betray the public trust in this way, you should resign from the senate, and that’s what senator perdue should do,” Ossoff said.

The Daily Beast article also accused Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr of selling off as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid fears about the coronavirus epidemic.

Senate records show that the North Carolina senator and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February. Most of the transactions were in her name.

That was just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus.

The report also lists other senators including Democrat Diane Feinstein of California and Republican Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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