Loeffler submits stock documents to Justice Department, Ethics Committee, SEC

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who is under scrutiny for nearly $20 million in stock transactions in late February and early March, has forwarded “documents and information” to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Senate Ethics Committee.

The disclosure is further evidence that the DOJ’s investigation into allegations that multiple senators traded large sums of stock based on privileged information is heating up.

A spokesperson for Loeffler announced Wednesday night that the freshman senator from Georgia had shared information to show that “she and her husband acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and spirit of the law.”

Loeffler has been criticized by her Republican primary opponent, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), of trading stocks based on privileged information received at a closed-door Senate briefing in late January. Her husband Jeff Sprecher is CEO of a company that owns the New York Stock Exchange.   

Loeffler has said the transactions were made by a third-party adviser and she didn’t learn about them until after the fact. She has since liquidated her individual stocks and converted her assets into broader mutual funds and exchange traded funds.

“Senator Loeffler has forwarded documents and information to DOJ, the SEC, and the Senate Ethics Committee establishing that she and her husband acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law. The documents and information demonstrated her and her husband’s lack of involvement in their managed accounts, as well the details of those accounts. Senator Loeffler has welcomed and responded to any questions from day one,” the spokesperson said Thursday night.

The announcement came one day after the FBI seized a cellphone belonging to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) as part of an investigation into alleged insider-trading.

Burr announced his resignation as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday morning, later telling reporters he didn’t want the FBI investigation to become a “difficulty” for members of his panel or the broader Senate GOP conference.

A spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said earlier Thursday that his boss had answered “some basic questions by law enforcement” about her husband’s stock transactions at the start of the coronavirus crisis in the United States.

Loeffler earlier on Thursday declined to answer a reporter who asked whether she had any contact with the FBI.  

Loeffler’s spokesperson later said that the senator had not received any search warrant from law enforcement.

“Allegations of improper trading by Sen. Loeffler are completely false based on a political attack misrepresenting the facts to prey on the emotions of the American people as they endure the impact of a global pandemic. No search warrant has been served on Sen Loeffler. She has followed both the letter and spirit of the law and will continue to do so,” the aide said Thursday afternoon.

Democrats on Thursday demanded that Loeffler answer questions about the extent of her contacts with the FBI.

“Senator Kelly Loeffler may not think Georgians deserve answers about their senators’ stock trading, but it’s clear that law enforcement does,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.