Ex-Senator Burr Says SEC Won’t Take Action on His Stock Trades

(Bloomberg) -- The US Securities and Exchange Commission ended its investigation into stock trades that former US Senator Richard Burr made in the weeks before the coronavirus pandemic, he said in a Friday statement.

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The regulator won’t take action against the Republican from North Carolina, according to the statement.

Burr, 67, said he was “glad to have this matter in the rear-view mirror” as he retires from the Senate. Burr’s third and final term ended on Jan. 3, and he was succeeded by Republican Ted Budd.

The SEC declined to comment. The Justice Department closed a criminal inquiry into the trades in 2021.

Burr’s trades, as well as those of then-US Senator Kelly Loeffler and the husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein, sparked momentum to enact new restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress over concerns that they had access to information not available to the public.

But lawmakers sparred over who would get credit and take the lead on the legislative effort, which fizzled by the end of 2022.

Burr sold holdings in early 2020 around the time intelligence officials were delivering closed-door briefings about the emerging threat of the coronavirus. He sold 33 stocks, including those of hotel companies, in February 2020, according to his financial-disclosure form.

Burr resigned as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee as prosecutors conducted their insider-trading investigation.

The SEC also closed its investigation into Burr’s brother-in-law Gerald Fauth, according to Fauth’s lawyer, F. Joseph Warin. The SEC investigated whether Fauth, a member of the National Mediation Board, traded on non-public information from Burr.

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