SEC ends insider trading probe of ex-Sen. Richard Burr and brother-in-law without taking action, lawyers say
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its insider trading investigation of former U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and his brother-in-law without taking action against either man, their lawyers said Friday. The SEC, which did not deny the attorneys’ statements, was eying Burr, a Republican, and his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth, who sits on a federal board, in a civil probe for their stock sales on the same day in February 2020.
The stock sales occurred one week before equities markets fell due to the Covid-19 pandemic after Burr had received briefings on the threat. Burr and Fauth had a very short phone call on the same day as the stock sales, the SEC has said in court filings. Burr retired from the Senate on Tuesday after three terms. He had said before his 2016 reelection that he would not seek a fourth term if he won that year. The SEC previously said in court filings that the agency was “investigating whether [Burr] sold stocks on the basis of nonpublic information.” Members of Congress are barred by law from using nonpublic information that they obtain through their official positions to profit from stock trades.