It’s hard to believe that Richard Burr is still in Washington. In light of overwhelming evidence that he unloaded a tranche of hospitality stocks based on confidential briefings about the coronavirus outbreak he received as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, there’s virtually no defensible reason for him to be in office.
Well, things may be about to get even hotter. A shareholder in one of the companies whose stock Burr dumped is taking Burr to court.
Alan Jacobson, a shareholder in Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, sued Burr in federal court on Monday, alleging that the senator used private information to motivate a mass liquidation of his assets. It is illegal for senators to use nonpublic information in conducting securities exchanges.
Wyndham, whose labels include Super 8, Days Inn, Microtel, and Ramada, was one of many hotel stocks that have been absolutely pulverized since the market got spooked over the epidemic. Wyndham was trading at $59.25 a share at the time that Burr sold over $150,000 worth of its stock on February 13. It was down to $25.03 at the close on Monday—a loss of almost 60 percent of its value in the last month.
Jacobson minces no words—Burr used his position as a Senator to reap a very massive and very illegal windfall.
“Senator Burr owed a duty to Congress, the United States government, and citizens of the United States, including Plaintiff, not to use material nonpublic information that he learned by virtue of his duties as a United States Senator in connection with the sale or purchase of any security,” said Jacobson’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Had Plaintiff and the market known of the material nonpublic information in Senator Burr’s possession regarding COVID-19, and on which Senator Burr traded, Wyndham’s stock price on February 13, 2020 would have been substantially lower,” the suit continued. “Senator Burr and his wife sold up to $150,000 of Wyndham stock on that date, and therefore he and his wife pocketed up to $150,000 in illegal insider trading proceeds at Plaintiff’s expense.”
Oh, to be a fly on the wall during the discovery and deposition phases. It’s very likely that enough information will come out at that stage that will substantiate ProPublica’s bombshell investigation—and hence all but end Burr’s career. Plus, if Burr is foolish enough to let this go to trial, seeing him on the stand would be well worth the price of admission.