Unsealed FBI docs reveal a flurry of calls amid Burr’s stock trades

WASHINGTON — Newly unsealed FBI documents paint a vivid picture of the government’s evidence in a 2020 insider trading investigation of North Carolina’s senior senator, Republican Richard Burr.

Burr was ultimately not charged with breaking any laws. But the newly released sworn affidavit of an FBI special agent shows that the Justice Department had probable cause to believe that Burr had committed insider trading and securities fraud.

As chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr in February 2020 abruptly liquidated more than half of his and his wife’s equity holdings at a time when U.S. markets and most Americans did not yet know how bad the coronavirus pandemic was going to be.

Given his position, Burr had information about the virus’ spread, and about America’s meager preparation for a massive pandemic, that was not available to the public.

The affidavit was submitted in support of a search warrant application to seize and search Burr’s phone, one that the judge in the case later granted.

It lays out a startling timeline of calls and texts between Burr, his wife Brooke Burr, her brother Gerald Fauth and Fauth’s wife that took place on the same days that both the Fauths and the Burrs sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock, right before the market plunged.

A spokesperson in Burr’s Senate office did not respond to a request for comment on the newly unsealed documents.

Nonetheless, as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr was given access to classified intelligence reports in January and early February that contained dire warnings about the coronavirus. 

On Jan. 31, Burr received nonpublic information from a source whose name is redacted in the FBI documents. That same day, Burr put in orders to sell nearly $110,000 in stock from his and his wife’s brokerage accounts.

On Feb. 12, Burr ordered the purchase of approximately $1.2 million of Treasury securities, using 76% of the total holdings in Burr and his wife’s joint account.

“Investors often purchase U.S. Treasury funds to hedge against a potential market downturn,” the FBI special agent, Brandon Merriman, notes.

He also noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 29,551.42 on Feb. 12.

One day after Burr’s big Treasury bill purchase, Burr and his wife unloaded equity shares worth approximately $1.1 million.

That the Burrs sold stock was reported at the time, but the value of the sale was only reported within a range. Monday’s filing was the first time the exact amounts had been made…