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Justice Dept. won't charge Sen. Burr over stock sales

Virus Outbreak Congress
Posted at 7:26 PM, Jan 19, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-19 21:26:41-05

Sen. Richard Burr says the Justice Department has told him it will not prosecute him over stock sales made during the coronavirus pandemic, ending an insider trading investigation that led him to at least temporarily step aside from a powerful committee chairmanship last year.

Prosecutors had investigated for months whether the North Carolina Republican and former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee had exploited advance information when he unloaded as much as $1.7 million in stocks in the days before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet.

Burr says “The case is now closed." A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.