According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) after they conducted a raid on his Washington-area residence. The raid was in conjunction with a Justice Department investigation into stock trades he made as the coronavirus outbreak first began to make headlines in the U.S.
“The seizure represents a significant escalation in the investigation into whether Burr violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they have gleaned from their official work,” the LA Times reports.
“Burr sold a significant percentage of his stock portfolio in 33 different transactions on Feb. 13, just as his committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings and a week before the stock market declined sharply,” the report continues. “Much of the stock was invested in businesses that in subsequent weeks were hit hard by the plunging market.”