Coronavirus: US Senator Richard Burr Charged With Insider Trading

Senator Richard Burr, in the center in a white shirt, is charged with insider trading. REUTERS / Tom Brenner

Text by: Anne Corpet Follow

In the United States, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been implicated in what amounts to insider trading. The Republican Richard Burr, informed well before all Americans about the dangers of the coronavirus, took the opportunity to get rid of many titles before the fall in stock market values. However, to make matters worse, it also published a very reassuring forum intended for the Americans.

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From our correspondent in Washington,

Alerted in January by scientists as part of his duties in the Senate, Richard Burr could have warned the Americans of the coming disaster . But the powerful head of the intelligence committee has minimized the danger: " The Americans are well protected, the government is better prepared than ever to deal with the Covid-19, " he wrote on February 7 on Fox News.

A week later, he nevertheless warned some wealthy bosses in his state, North Carolina, of the disaster that could devastate the country. Meanwhile, the senator and his wife sold on the stock exchange between 600,000 and 1,700,000 dollars of securities, including shares of hotel chains.

A practice prohibited in the United States

Richard Burr is not the only one to have taken advantage of his privileged position to avoid the fall of his stock market : Kelly Loeffler, Republican senator of Georgia, also sold her threatened stocks, and bought the shares of company specialized in software telecommuting.

These senators risk prosecution, because a law of 2012 prohibits elected officials from earning profits on the stock market thanks to information inaccessible to the general public. At the time, Richard Burr had voted against the adoption of this text.

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