The DOJ has dropped its probe into 3 US senators who dumped stock work millions shortly before the coronavirus market crash, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore

• The Department of Justice has dropped its investigation into three US senators accused of insider trading after receiving closed-door briefings on the likely impact of the coronavirus.
• Federal charges will not be filed against Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma or Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
• All three sold stock shortly before markets nosedived in March as the wider world realized the economic damage that would come from the virus.
• Loeffler, Inhofe, and Feinstein said they had no personal involvement in the sales, which they said were made by brokers without their direct input.
• GOP Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina remains under investigation.
• Burr dumped hotel stocks as the pandemic began to spread from Asia but has said he made the decision based on news reports.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The Department of Justice is dropping its investigation into three US senators accused of insider trading over stock sales made after they received closed-door briefings on the novel coronavirus.

The DOJ will not be filing any charges against Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, as well as Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news of the dropped investigations on Tuesday.

It said Loeffler, Inhofe, and Feinstein all said the sales, in late January and early February, were made by investment managers acting without their direct input.

According to Forbes, Loeffler’s sales were valued between $1.275 million and $3.1 million, Inhofe’s at about $400,000, and Feinstein’s between $1.5 million and $6 million.

The sales came when markets were reaching a peak, toward the end of a years-long rally.

It ended in late February and turned into a sustained crash through March, propelled by the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and a simultaneous crash in global oil prices.

The investigations were made under the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, which bars elected officials from making trades on the basis of information that isn’t in the public sphere.

Officials continue to investigate Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.

He made sales in late February that were worth up to $1.72 million, ProPublica reported. Much of the investments were in the hotel chains Wyndham and Extended Stay America.

According to the Journal report, Burr had a more direct role in his trades than the other senators.

Burr has said he made the trades based on news reports about the coronavirus rather than any information he had because of his role as a senator, The Journal noted.

Earlier in the month, Burr’s phone was seized by the FBI. He has temporarily stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee while the investigation is being conducted.

Loeffler is the only one of the three senators no longer under DOJ investigation who is up for reelection in November.