Sen. Loeffler Under Fire for Improper Trading After Coronavirus Hearing

The former Bakkt CEO and current Republican senator Kelly Loeffler has been criticized for dumping stock immediately after a private Senate hearing on coronavirus.

Kelly Loeffler, the former CEO of Intercontinental Exchange subsidiary Bakkt and current Republican senator from Georgia, reportedly sold millions in stock within days of a Senate Health Committee hearing on the novel coronavirus.

According to a report from Daily Beast on March 20, the Republican senator reported the first instance of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24 — the same day of the private briefing to United States Senators.

Former Bakkt CEO dumps stock after Senate Health Committee hearing

In total, she and her husband reportedly executed 27 sales of various stocks throughout February, including sales of Resideo Technologies shares — which have since dropped by over 50%. 

During the same period, only two stock purchases were made by the Loefflers, comprising investments of between $100,000 and $250,000 into Citrix — a company that provides technologies for distributed workplace solutions. 

Citrix’s website states that the company “is committed to providing the support you need to keep your employees safe and operations running throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Despite the stock transactions, Loeffler has consistently sought to instill confidence in the U.S. economy as the coronavirus pandemic has worsened.

Loeffler dismisses “baseless attack” 

In response to public backlash for the share sales, Loeffler tweeted: “As confirmed in the periodic transaction report to Senate Ethics, I was informed of these purchases and sales on February 16, 2020 — three weeks after they were made.” She added:

“This is a ridiculous and baseless attack. I do not make investment decisions for my portfolio. Investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband's knowledge or involvement.”

However, Loeffler’s tweets appear to have done little to placate the public, with Twitter user ‘DTBbyTheSea’ writing:

“Cool cool. I'm sure the $250k of stock you bought in the company that makes software to allow people to work from home was just a crazy coincidence.”

Loeffler was appointed to the U.S. Senate during December, describing herself as “pro-Second Amendment, pro-military, pro-wall and pro-Trump.”

Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee scrutinized for stock sales

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), has also been criticized for reportedly selling a large volume of shares in the lead up to the markets’ violent reaction to coronavirus.

On Feb. 13, Burr purportedly sold between $580,000 and $1.56 million worth of stock in nearly 30 transactions.Senator Loeffler did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.