# Congress Critters who sold their stocks **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 20, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894 "2020-03-20T15:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/1 "2020-03-20T15:31:24Z")
I’ve seen calls for resignations and investigations… I …don’t see anything illegal done. I’m fairly sure the virus was public knowledge when they sold. As for 'had private meetings with experts who warned them" SO? Lots of people could have extrapolated that info around Jan.25th. “Hey the energy sector is already hurting and this could slow it down more. Could even be a pandemic. Besides your stocks already are at near highs and this can’t last forever.” NOW if they had inside info that Saudi Arabia and Russia were going to go into a oil war…thats a little different but also conceivable. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/2 "2020-03-20T15:51:50Z")
The virus itself didn’t cause the financial markets to collapse - it was the government’s inept response. So, being a member of the government makes you privy to information that the public doesn’t have - you are an _insider_. So, I say - they must resign, and should be prosecuted. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/3 "2020-03-20T15:57:18Z")
They also knowingly downplayed the threat to their constituents while offloading stocks. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/4 "2020-03-20T16:07:01Z")
I love Fox News’ headline on this… “Dianne Feinstein, 3 Colleagues sold stocks before Coronavirus crash”… One out of 4 was a Democrat, so the only one named. The others were Richard Burr (NC), Kelly Loeffler (GA), and James Inhofe (OK). Like **Dale Sams** , I don’t see how this is even remotely shady, let alone illegal. Had I been the type of person to have millions of dollars in the stock market, I would likely have offloaded in January as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/5 "2020-03-20T16:23:07Z")
Pit thread: [Republicans purposely downplayed COVID-19 warnings so they could offload stock.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=892113) I’m not qualified to say whether what Burr et al did was illegal, but it certainly looks immoral and reprehensible to me. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/6 "2020-03-20T17:36:51Z")
Insider trading is illegal. To the extent that they had access to Administration briefings that us _hoi polloi_ didn’t (true for Burr and Loeffler, don’t know about Imhofe), and that contributed to their decisions, damn straight it’s illegal. And illegal or not, it’s skeevy as hell to personally profit from your government position, regardless of which branch of government. That’s banana-republic shit. Each house of Congress may expel a member of that house by a 2/3 majority vote. Since the Senate is controlled by Republicans, this won’t happen to Burr and Loeffler. But it should. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/7 "2020-03-20T18:23:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Insider trading is illegal. > > To the extent that they had access to Administration briefings that us _hoi polloi_ didn’t (true for Burr and Loeffler, don’t know about Imhofe), and that contributed to their decisions, damn straight it’s illegal. Do you have a cite that their actions were illegal, or are you just ranting? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/8 "2020-03-20T19:32:09Z")
NOW im seeing on Twitter blue-check marks ranting about congress members selling stock on fucking 2/28. FEBRUARY 28th??! Get a grip people. If i owned any stock in oil companies, airlines, casinos or restaurants…I would have dumped it all WELL before 2/28 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/9 "2020-03-20T21:18:41Z")
Except for Barr, they have their money in [blind trusts](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sen-loeffler-denies-any-role-in-stock-sales-as-coronavirus-crisis-worsened-2020-03-20). Turn off any station that doesn’t report this. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/10 "2020-03-22T01:14:36Z")
[Richard Burr Wondering When Profiting Off Mass Suffering Suddenly Became A Crime In This Country](https://politics.theonion.com/richard-burr-wondering-when-profiting-off-mass-sufferin-1842428330) (from The Onion) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/11 "2020-03-22T02:14:11Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Had I been the type of person to have millions of dollars in the stock market, I would likely have offloaded in January as well. Me too! But then, I wouldn’t have been a Congressman who’d just been briefed about how bad the disease was going to be and then gone on to assure the public that it wouldn’t be all that bad, so I could sell my stock for the highest price possible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/12 "2020-03-22T02:34:37Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I …don’t see anything illegal done. No, it’s illegal. The specific law is the STOCK Act ie the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (don’t look at me like that, I didn’t name it). It prohibits _“Members of Congress and employees of Congress from using nonpublic information derived from their official positions for personal benefit.”_ ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-critters-who-sold-their-stocks/849894/13 "2020-03-22T03:32:31Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > I love Fox News’ headline on this… “Dianne Feinstein, 3 Colleagues sold stocks before Coronavirus crash”… > > One out of 4 was a Democrat, so the only one named. The others were Richard Burr (NC), Kelly Loeffler (GA), and James Inhofe (OK). > > Like **Dale Sams** , I don’t see how this is even remotely shady, let alone illegal. Had I been the type of person to have millions of dollars in the stock market, I would likely have offloaded in January as well. Note that Feinstein and husband sold stock in a biotech company. The stock value of this company went up - they had a paper loss. The others sold off stocks which dropped precipitously and locked in profits/gains up to that point.