Ethics Complaints Filed Against Feinstein for Selling Stocks Before Coronavirus Crash

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco) and three of her colleagues face ethics complaints after reports that they sold off stocks worth millions of dollars days before the coronavirus pandemic crashed the stock market.

Feinstein has denied wrongdoing.

However, Good government advocacy group Common Cause today filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Senate Ethics Committee calling for immediate investigations of Feinstein and Sens. Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler, and James Inhofe for possible insider trading.

According to media reports, each of accused were warned in classified briefings of the potentially catastrophic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and proceeded to dump signifiant amounts of stock ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

Feinstein, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and her husband sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in Allogene Therapeutics from Jan. 31 to Feb. 18, according to the New York Times. And all three senators reportedly made all of the trades well before the coronavirus pandemic triggered the stock market collapse.

After he jettisoned his own stock and while President Donald Trump was still downplaying the encroaching pandemic, Burr warned a Feb. 27 gathering of constituents and donors about the dire financial impact of the COVID-19 public health crisis. In a recording of the event obtained by NPR, Burr compares the novel coronavirus to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million worldwide.

The STOCK Act extends insider trading restrictions to members of Congress, prohibiting them from using non-public information derived from their positions for personal gain. As for the Securities and Exchange Act, the law bans use of “any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance” in connection with buying or selling stocks. Meanwhile SEC rules bar “any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance” and “any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud” involving a stock trade.

“The American people expect and deserve leaders who look after the interests of the people before their own personal interests,” Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a news release emailed to reporters Friday. “These potential violations of insider trading laws and the STOCK Act by these senators, outlined in widespread media reports, show what appears to be contempt for the law and further a contempt for the American people these senators have sworn to serve. Situations like these are exactly why Common Cause fought to help pass the STOCK Act, to prevent government officials abusing their power for their personal profit.”

14 Comments

  1. Feinstein is but another reason why we should impose “Term-limits” on Congress.

    Personally, I’d like the justice system to throw her to the dogs.

    David S. Wall

  2. Agree, term limits is good enough for the president it should be the law of the land for congress as well.

  3. Why Dems love Crony Capitalusm, they have to disclose to them. How many millions did Fienstein, Pelosi, Maxine make just being in these meetings? Your heros of the resistence…

    • ONE Democrat and THREE Republicans are being investigated. I’d throw them all in jail, but it won’t happen.

  4. There was lots of time and opportunity for ANYbody to bail out of the stock market before it crashed. Lots of warning signs. A few independent souls trusted their own judgement and sold. That is to their credit and they should not be punished for it.

  5. This is the only time that American voters see bipartisan cooperation….when it comes to personal enrichment for Representatives and Senators.

  6. This is the only time that the American taxpayer will see bipartisan cooperation…when it involves personal enrichment for Representatives and Senators.

  7. Perp walk this decrepit worthless hen right to prison to live out the rest of her hate-filled days. A corrupt and vile crow.

  8. I recollect that DiFi or her Senatorial colleagues were involved in something like this four or five years back.

    At the time, DiFi expressed shock and dismay that something like this could be going on in Washington. She VEHEMENTLY opined that “someone ought to do something”.

    The news media stopped talking about it, so I guess that saying “someone ought to do something” was all that really needed to be done.

  9. The governmental elite do not live by the same rules they impose on us plebians. This story will die and Feinstein will suffer no consequences.

  10. Holy moly, here’s proof that San Jose Inside has zero (0) idea about how to go about reporting news – There’s no fact checking here! Feinstein’s stock is all in a trust controlled independently. This is what politicians used to do to avoid impropriety. But now many, like the guy in charge, the President, keep control of their funds as have Senators Richard Burr & Ken Loeffler). The stock that was sold was Feinstein’s husband’s, not hers, and it was sold when the biopharma stock was down, not up, so worth LESS money, not more. (Also, If one wants to cash in on coronavirus, one might want to KEEP, not sell, biopharma stock.) If you want to do some belated fact checking, call these smarter news outlets: SFGate https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Dianne-Feinstein-richard-burr-senate-intelligence-15146178.php and Barron’s https://www.barrons.com/articles/sen-dianne-feinsteins-husband-sold-a-biotech-stock-near-its-2020-low-51583064907.

  11. > U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco) and three of her colleagues face ethics complaints after reports that they sold off stocks worth millions of dollars days before the coronavirus pandemic crashed the stock market.

    Just what the hell is a good government advocate supposed to think about DiFi when she is so often seen in the neighborhood when money changes hands in funny ways?

    http://www.mega.nu/ampp/bixman.html

    “THE GREAT GOLD HEIST”
    by Karen Bixman

  12. I can see this story in the main stream media, is already as gone as last weeks leftover gefilte fish!

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