David Perdue Reportedly Sold Off Millions in Stock, Bought Shares For Massive Gains Amid Coronavirus Market Flux
Jessica McGowan, Getty
A multitude of reports are raising questions about Senator David Perdue (R-GA) in light of some profitable transactions his stock portfolio has seen throughout the year while the coronavirus threw the economy into turmoil.
Associated Press released an article that focuses on multiple instances where Perdue sold off stock to avoid heavy losses, then saw massive trades that proved advantageous to him. Perdue used to sit on the board of directors for Cardlytics, a financial tech firm based in Atlanta, and according to congressional disclosures cited by the report, he sold between $1-5 million in his company stock before it plummeted with the rest of the market.
The stock was valued at $86 a share when Perdue sold off his holdings in late January, but the report goes on to say that in March, he bought his shares back after the value dropped to $30. The senator was said to have pumped between $200,000 and $500,000 into his investment, and now, Cardlytics’ shares are worth $121. The report goes on to say Perdue sold between $3.2 million and $9.4 million in stock back in April
The story comes as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Perdue’s financial disclosure form says his portfolio has seen 112 transactions in March, 76 of which were stock purchases “costing as much as $1.8 million and 34 sales worth up to $825,000.” Perdue also faces scrutiny for how he bought a large amount of stock from BWX Technologies, became chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Seapower about a month later, then sold his stock with the company after they received funding as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020.
Perdue is not the only senator facing questions over suspicious stock dumps within the coronavirus stock market crash. In fact, one of them happens to be his fellow Republican in Georgia’s senate runoff election: Kelly Loeffler.
Months ago, Loeffler came under scrutiny amid reports she attended a private briefing on the coronavirus threat early in the year, then she sold off a considerable portion of her stock portfolio as the market fell into chaos. Loeffler was also scrutinized for allegedly buying stocks likely to see an increase in value during the pandemic, and even as she parried criticism for her investment dumps, she eventually announced that her holdings would be converted to mutual funds that would be managed by outside parties.
