Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) leaves the United States Capitol after voting in Washington, USA, on May 14, 2020.
Erin Scott | Reuters
The Justice Department will not criminally prosecute Senator Richard Burr in connection with securities transactions that the North Carolina Republican executed after being informed about Covid-19 last year, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic shook the ‘American economy.
Burr’s investigation had included the FBI’s unusual confiscation of his cell phone in May, and led him to step aside as chairman of the powerful Senate Information Committee that same month.
“Tonight, the Justice Department informed me that it has completed the review of my personal financial transactions conducted early last year,” Burr said in a statement Tuesday night.
“The case is closed. I’m glad to hear it. My focus has been and will continue to work for the people of North Carolina during this difficult time for our nation,” Burr said.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
But a DOJ official confirmed to NBC News that the investigation was closed.
The news came last night from President Donald Trump in office.
The closure of the probe puts an end to a controversy that erupted last March as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic began to ravage the United States.
Burr was one of several senators who raised the eyebrows of securities deals conducted on his accounts that came after receiving information warning of the potential effects of Covid, but before the pandemic began to spread rapidly.
But unlike other senators, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Dianne Feinstein of California and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Burr did not deny that he decided to sell the stock himself, nor that concerns about the coronavirus were his main motivation for for sale.
Only Burr was the subject of a DOJ-sustained criminal investigation into his stock business. The other three, who like Burr had denied any offense, were told in May that they would not face any criminal charges.
Members of Congress are legally prohibited from using the non-public information they obtain through their official positions in order to personally profit from the stock market.
The STOCK law that codified this ban was signed by President Barack Obama in 2012, after passing the Senate in a 96-3 vote. Burr was one of three “no” votes on that law
As president of Intelligence, Burr had access in January and February 2020 to classified intelligence reports that contained clear warnings about the coronavirus.
On February 13 last year, Burr unloaded shares worth $ 630,000 to $ 1.7 million, with 33 individual transactions conducted that same day. The shares he sold represented an important part of his financial portfolio.
One week later, stock markets began to submerge for fear that the pandemic would paralyze the world economy. If the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 30% of its value in the weeks following Burr’s trades.
ProPublica reported that the day Burr sold his shares, his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth sold shares worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Fauth was appointed by Trump in 2017 as a member of the three-member National Mediation Council, a federal agency that helps facilitate labor relations in the transportation industry.
At the time of the ProPublica report, Burr’s attorney, Alice Fisher, told the newspaper that Burr “did not coordinate his decision to negotiate” with Fauth.
“From the beginning, Senator Burr has focused on a proper and thorough review of the facts on this matter, which will establish that his actions were appropriate,” Fisher said at the time.
Burr in late March had said, “I only relied on public news to guide my decision on the sale of shares.”
“Specifically, I was closely following CNBC’s daily health and science reports from its Asian offices at the time,” he said.