The coronavirus has cast a spotlight on senator insider trading, with four senators (both sides of the aisle) having apparently leveraged material non-public knowledge, and dumped their public stocks just weeks ahead of the market collapse. Senators Burr, Loeffler, Feinstein, Inhofe received confidential briefings in the context of their government roles, and then traded on it. This is actually nothing new - other senators have traded quite profitably around market catalysts like the ACA or drug policy changes. Sen. John Kerry cashed in on his Amgen shares, selling them off before key reimbursements ended. Sen Bacchus got a confidential briefing in 2008 from the chairman of the SEC on the fragility of the US economy, and put in place massive shorts just in time to profit from the collapse of the US economy in the GFC. And it may not even be illegal. There has been a longstanding loophole in the insider trading laws and congressional conduct rules that make it kosher for congresspeople to trade on information derived in office, that is material and non-public. Those laws were tightened by the STOCK Act, but there are clearly loopholes big enough to drive semi-trucks through. I know too little about the law, but I did stumble on an interesting analysis by the vlog Legal Eagle at
So what do you monkeys think? It kind of grinds my gears to think that members of government can trade on insider info - esp policy-driven cases because they ARE the market catalyst.
I agree with your points. It is very annoying that they can trade on no public info and be the very ones to break the news, sending the market into a volatile selloff because everyone’s worried.
I haven’t seen exact time stamping, but if they were to sell off/ short equities after telling the public everything is okay- that should be criminal. I think lying to people about life and death situations should be a prosecutable crime.
What upsets me the most is nothing will happen. They’ll get re-elected next go around. They’ll do the same shit each time. It’s the amoral nature of politics in America. On both sides, I find it difficult to see any light or sense of care for anyone other than themselves. Maybe I’m overly jaded.
I’m starting to think public servants in political roles don’t care for their voter base, but more so for themselves and their ego. This goes for left and right, red and blue.
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