RALEIGH, N.C. — Court records released Tuesday reveal that U.S. Sen. Richard Burr avoided an estimated $87,000 in losses and gained more than $164,000 due to his “well-timed” stock sales at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New information about a now-closed insider trading investigation into Burr, R-N.C., and his family came to light Tuesday after a judge ordered the release of federal materials. They are related to a search warrant that allowed investigators to seize and search Burr’s cell phone.
The Los Angeles Times first reported the Department of Justice investigation in May 2020 after Burr sold more than $1.6 million in stocks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court documents reveal that investigators believed Burr, his brother-in-law and sister-in-law may have sold off stocks based on nonpublic information Burr received in February 2020 as the pandemic was rising in the United States.
