WAS SHINGTON (AP) – The novel Coronavirus Torture With millions laid off, businesses closed and retirement accounts shrunk, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a three-year low.
But the Georgia Republican sen. For David Perdue, the crisis last March signaled something else: the opportunity to buy stock.
And for the second time in less than two months, the period of the period was flawless. He avoided drastic losses and made a spectacular profit by selling the same stock and then buying the same stock: Atlanta-based financial technology company Cardalytics, of which he once served on the board of directors.
On January 23, when Congress announced that the coronavirus posed a major economic and public health threat, Perdue sold લ 1 million to 5 5 million in Carlitix stock, before it sank, at શેર 1 per share. According to.
Weeks later, in March, after the company’s stock plunged further following an unexpected leadership shakeup and low-forecast earnings, Perdu bought the stock back for $ 30, with an investment of 200 200,000 to 500 500,000.
That stock has now quadrupled in value, closing at 1 121 a share on Tuesday.
In the early days of the epidemic, a large number of investment decisions were made by Pladu and other senators. The outrage spread after some members of Congress became aware of the dangers posed by the virus to the economy and health. The transaction was briefly mentioned in a story published by Intercept in May.
Now the period is off to a massive battle for election in the January 5 runoff, Public health and its trade during the economic crisis What has already become a negative, costly campaign has become an issue that will determine which party controls the Senate..
There is no evidence that Parade, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, acted on information obtained as a member of Congress or through his long association with company officials. It is illegal to use unauthorized information obtained as an insider of the company or as a member of Congress to make investment decisions.
But legal experts say that at the time of its sale, the fact that it quickly bought back Cardiacs stock when it had lost two-thirds of its market value and its close relationship with company officials checked all the warrants.
John C., a law school professor at Columbia University who specializes in corporate and securities issues. “This doesn’t look suspicious,” Coffee Jr. said. But he added, “You need more than suspicion to plead guilty.”
The Period campaign rejected a request to meet with the senator. In a statement, Perdue spokesman John Burke said the senator was improperly cleared, but did not give details.
“The bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee, the DOJ and the SECA months ago the senator approved the period independently and expeditiously, which was reported.”
Perdue’s opponent, Democrat John Osoff, captures his share of the trade while trying to brand it as “artificial.”
Perdue is not the only senator on the Georgia ballot. Sen. Kelly Loffler, also a Republican, retired Sen. Democrat Rafael Warnock is fighting to complete the remainder of Jonny Isaacson’s term..
When coronaviruses spread to the U.S. Perdu’s cardiletics transactions at the time of the first attack matched the broad pattern of stock moves he made.
At the time, Perdue publicly stated that the economy was strong and praised President Donald Trump during a February 24 interview on Fox News Channel for “bringing about the best economic reversal in U.S. history.”
The series of fast-moving transactions in his portfolio told a different story, however, with the senator showing some company sinking in stocks, while investing in others – such as protective devices manufacturer DuPont and pharmaceutical company Pfizer – that would perform well during an epidemic.
Perdue said earlier that outside financial advisers do most of its business.
But Donna Nagy, a law professor at Indiana University, said the kind of arrangement doesn’t stop Paredu from instructing a counselor to make a specific transaction. He said one way for members of Congress to avoid questions about their financial holding is to put them in blind faith, which Paradox did not.
“If Congress passes a law on limited investments, all these questions about the motivations behind our members of Congress and their personal securities trading can be removed,” said Nagy, an expert in securities law. “Ordinary citizens should not question members of Congress about their investments.”
The issue was so responsible that Parado sold between ૨ 8 million and $ 4.3 million in its four-day period in mid-April, he said in an Associated Press review of mandatory financial announcements to the Senate. He did not sell his stock in Cardiac.
Nevertheless, Perdue has largely avoided the same amount of scrutiny carried out by some of her colleagues.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burre received the most attention and resigned as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Her investigation into the sale of $ 1.7 million in stock came as she was publicly denying the threat while privately warning some well-heeled elements about the virus.
Cardiletics works at the intersection of banking and marketing online marketing. While it helps run reward programs for financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, banks market their customers using the data they collect – similar to what Facebook does with targeted ads.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
After the March upheaval, its share price skyrocketed. The current epidemic has a lot to do with consumer interest in rescue programs, said Lee Laub, current CEO of Cardlitics.
“I hate to say that this epidemic is playing in our favor, but it is playing in our favor,” he said during an earnings call in May.
Perdue acquired 75,000 shares in Cardiletics through stock options offered for his service on the company’s board between 2010 and 2014, when he resigned after winning a Senate seat, the Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. The company, which was not yet made public at the time, offered them options available in October 2020 and January 2022.
Perdu’s recent financial announcements do not indicate whether he has used the options available in the October.
But according to Coffey, a law professor at Columbia University, this is an unusual move by the company.
“I’ve never seen expanded options from 2014 to 2022,” he said. “It’s a very long extension.”
When Perdue left the company’s board, he maintained relationships with some of his executives, who have donated more than $ 30,000 to his political committees. About 80% of donations made to federal candidates by Cardiletics employees over the past decade have been made to Purdue, the record shows.
Perdue, meanwhile, has used social media to publicize the company. In August 2016, he visited his office fee and posted a photo with LL Bay and then-CEO Scott Grimes, which he posted on Facebook. In the fall of 2019, he introduced Louie and Grimes to a festival in Atlanta, where he received the Business Achievement Award.
Isaacs, who served with Perdue, now took steps to avoid the kind of confrontation Purdue is facing. Republican Isaacs put most of its holdings in blind faith in 2012 after drawing some of its assets to undue attention.
“I said I need to be as patent and clean as anyone, and the best way to do that is blind faith,” Isaacs, who served on the Senate Finance and Ethics Committee, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2017. I don’t know what I have. “
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