Last Updated on March 23, 2020
Interim Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler is under pressure to resign her appointed seat following revelations that she dumped stock immediately after receiving a Coronavirus impact briefing in late January for U.S. senators. California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein and North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr also find themselves ensnared in the insider trading scandal. Loeffler’s husband, CEO of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, also dumped stock. Republican U.S. House candidate Mark Gonsalves has called for Loeffler to resign, while the Republican Georgia House speaker David Ralston said, “I’m absolutely worried about the down-ticket damage” to state legislative candidates caused by Loeffler’s scandal. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement co-directors harshly warned about insider trading and the need for “market integrity” as the senators face public-relations fallout.
“People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain? I’m sickened just thinking about it,” Rep. Doug Collins said in a statement provided to National File. Collins, who was President Trump’s first choice for Loeffler’s seat before Republican Gov. Brian Kemp picked the finance oligarch’s wife, is challenging Loeffler in the 2020 Georgia Senate election in November. There are a number of candidates running, and the top two will make a January runoff if nobody gets to over 50 percent.
Though Loeffler claimed that third party advisers manage her stock portfolio and don’t have any direct communications with her, Loeffler slipped up in a Bloomberg interview and admitted, “We have an employee in our personal family office that intermediates between the advisers.”
Main Street Patriots has launched a petition to demand: “We Call On Kelly Loeffler To Resign Immediately.” (READ THE PETITION HERE).
“On January 24, 2020, Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler attended a senators only briefing by Trump Administration officials on the seriousness of the Cornavirus. Information was discussed that was not yet public knowledge.
Within a few hours of the private briefing, Sen. Loeffler and her husband began selling stock that would be negatively impacted by the Coronavirus. Between Jan. 24 and Feb. 14, Loeffler and her New York Stock Exchange CEO husband Jeffrey Sprecher, made a total of 29 stock transactions. They sold 15 stocks worth between $1,275,000 and $3,100,000 that have been reported to have lost a third of their value since Loeffler and her husband sold them. Sen. Loeffler purchased stock in teleworking software Citrix on February 14th that has gained value..
Loeffler did not do the prudent thing and put her stock/assets in a blind trust when she became Senator, but instead set up a structure where on the surface 3rd party advisers manage her stock purchases. Loeffler also admitted that an employee in the family office was the intermediary to the 3rd party advisers. We strongly believe Loeffler somehow relayed the information she learned in the private briefing to her advisers.
During the stock sell off by Loeffler and her husband Sprecher, Loeffler continued painting a rosy picture in regard to Coronavirus even though she knew how serious the crisis was.
On March 10th, Loeffler Tweeted this: “Concerned about #coronavirus?”Remember this: The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle #COVID19 & keep Americans safe.”
On March 11th, Loeffler’s husband NYSE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher sold 175,000 shares of Intercontinental Exchange – the company that owns the NYSE.
Sen. Loeffler may be guilty of violating the STOCK Act that prohibits insider trading. Members of Congress cannot trade with non-public information.
Senator Loeffler has put Georgia at risk for turning blue. She has put the Presidency, both Senate Seats, and the Gold Dome at risk of flipping blue this November.
Senator Loeffler has shown she does not have the moral compass that we as Republicans strive to have and expect from our public servants. Anyone that tries to profit off this pandemic should resign immediately. There is no room in the Republican Party for Pandemic Profiteers..
Therefore, we call on on Sen. Kelly Loeffler to resign immediately.”
Petition passage ends
#LockThemAllUp was trending on Twitter as news surfaced about the senators’ shockingly cynical manipulations.
As a journalist, I was instrumental in Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s victory over Stacey Abrams in the gubernatorial race when I busted Abrams’ vote-stealing tactics and shady factors favoring her including shenanigans in Fulton County where a massive number of duplicate ballots surfaced and non-citizens were trying to vote.
Kemp then betrayed the tea party and appointed establishment oligarch Loeffler, wife of the CEO of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, to the open U.S. Senate seat over conservative Doug Collins, who is running for the Senate currently against Loeffler.
