Suspected of using inside information to profit US Senator Richard Burr is under investigation

U.S. Senator Richard Burr is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to determine whether he violated federal insider trading laws by selling more than $1.6 million in stocks before last year's stock market crash, according to a number of U.S. media reports on October 28.

The SEC revealed in a court filing that Burr sold nearly all of its shares on Feb. 13, 2020, following a confidential briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEC also conducted an investigation into Gerald Fox, a relative of Burr's wife, to find out whether she had received inside information from Burr and sold shares.

The SEC said Burr may have used his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to obtain non-public information and make a decision to sell all of its shares held at the time. The stock market began to plummet about two weeks after Burr sold all the shares.

However, Burr defended before the Senate Ethics Committee in March 2020 that his decision was based on reports on the COVID-19 outbreak on the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). (CCTV reporter Xu Tao)

Source: CCTV News Client