The investigation examined Perdue’s sale of more than $ 1 million in shares in the spring before the economic slowdown fueled by the Corlytavirus epidemic at a financial company called Cardlytics, whose chief financial officer was once a board member, the newspaper reported. Weeks after the sale of the shares, the company’s stock price dropped to $ 29. Perdue then repurchased some of the shares he sold, the shares of which are now trading for $ 120, the Times writes. Citing four people who are aware of the case, the newspaper reported that investigators are reviewing Perdue’s trading on the basis of “possible evidence of insider trading”.
Scott Grimes, co-founder and CEO of Cardlytics at the time, sent Perdue an email two days before the sale of the stock, mentioning “upcoming changes.” According to the Times, investigators concluded that “they do not contain meaningful, non-public information and are unwilling to prosecute, so the case was closed this summer.”
In a statement to CNN, Casey Black, a spokeswoman for Perdue, said: “The Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ethics Committee of the bipartisan Senate have separately reviewed and promptly and independently clarified Senator Perdue for any irregularities.
“Senator Perdue has always obeyed the law,” Black said in a statement.
CNN turned to the Department of Justice for comment on Thursday.
Democrat Jon Ossoff, who faces Perdue in a January election, criticized his opponent for alleged stock sales and said the Republican refused to discuss the case in October. In a Wednesday night interview with Kate Bolduan, CNN called Ossoff Perdue a “scammer who abused his office.”
In 2012, Congress passed the Equities Act, which made it illegal for lawmakers to make financial use of inside information. Under insider trading laws, prosecutors would have to certify lawmakers on the basis of non-public information obtained in violation of their duty of confidentiality.
Other members of Congress have verified that they have sought to profit from information obtained from non-public briefings on the coronavirus epidemic. Earlier this year, investigators began trading shares of North Carolina Senator Richard Burr. Senate notes show Georgian Senator Kelly Loeffler is a Republican who also has an election election in January and her husband sold 27 shares between $ 1,275 million and $ 3.1 million from Jan. 24 to Feb. 14. Investigators investigated the sale of shares, but closed the investigation, and Loeffler maintained that he had done nothing wrong. The Ministry of Justice closed Sens. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, are also investigating stock sales.
