the North Carolina senator’s brother-in-law also unloaded tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock on the very same day. On Feb. 13, Burr, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and his wife sold as much as $1.7 million in stocks; the same day Burr’s brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth, a 2017 Trump administration appointee, sold as much as $280,000, according to financial disclosures.
Burr was in a unique position as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee to have access to classified intelligence on the coming threat of the coronavirus. Internal alarms were already going off in the government early in the year, long before the public was attuned to the coming danger and economic chaos.
Burr’s brother-in-law, who was not a frequent trader, also curiously dumped stock on Feb. 13, avoiding losses of up to $118,000 according to a financial analysis of the companies’ performance. “On Feb. 13, Fauth or his spouse sold between $15,001 and $50,000 of Altria, the tobacco company; between $50,001 and $100,000 of snack food maker Mondelez International; and between $1,001 and $15,000 of home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma,” according to Pro Publica.