Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Georgia Republican, on Wednesday defended stock sales she made before the coronavirus-related economic crash really took hold, saying her investments are in the hands of third-party managers.
“Third-party managers manage all of our investments — I have no communication with them,” Ms. Loeffler said on Fox Business Network. “This is cherry-picking for dates and times around events that are completely unrelated to my investment managers’ decisions or any meetings or communications I’ve had.”
Ms. Loeffler had started offloading some stocks on Jan. 24, the same day that senators got a briefing on COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
She and her husband, Jeff Sprecher, sold shares worth between about $1.25 million and $3.1 million over the next three weeks. Mr. Sprecher is the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which owns the New York Stock Exchange.
They also purchased shares in Citrix, a teleconferencing software company.
“I don’t buy or sell any of my stocks,” Ms. Loeffler said.
Ms. Loeffler is one of a handful of senators whose stock trades have come under scrutiny amid the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic crash.
The others include Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. All have denied wrongdoing.
Ms. Loeffler, who was appointed to her position by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, is facing a GOP primary challenge from Rep. Doug Collins.
A Collins campaign internal poll from last week showed the congressman with a 23-point lead over Ms. Loeffler, who has the backing of the Senate GOP’s official campaign arm.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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