Georgia’s Republican David Perdue, who is standing in the Senate by – elections on Tuesday, twice bought a significant number of shares in a US bank shortly after meeting with financial policymakers, raising more questions about his productive stock trading while in office.
In one case, in May 2015, two days after a ten-minute call with then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Perdue bought between $ 15,000 and $ 50,000 worth of shares in Regions Financial Corporation.
Two years later, on May 18, 2017, Perdue bought additional shares in the bank, two days after a half-hour meeting with then-Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen.
In no event is it clear whether Perdue discussed relevant financial regulation or other market sensitive issues with Lew or Yellen and whether the discussion influenced his decision to buy the share.
At the time of the call with Lew, members of the Senate Banking Committee, on which Perdue sits, were in close talks over a possible trade deal.
But the purchase of more shares in the region in the aftermath of Perdue’s meeting with Yellen – who is nominated by Joe Biden to serve as treasury secretary once the presidential election is elected – may be important because it will take about two months. before Yellen was publicly discussed. her support for raising the $ 50 billion asset threshold for systemically important institutions, a change that has meant that the Regions Bank can see relief from important financial regulations.
As Yellen’s public view on the subject developed in her role as chair of the Fed, so did Perdue’s stockpiling in the regions. Perdue separately sought to promote regulatory legislation that would benefit banks like Regions, which has publicly endorsed Regions and more than a dozen other banks.
Public records show that on October 11, 2019 and October 23, 2019, Perdue sold its full stake in Regions, indicating that Perdue may have made a 21% return on its previous investment. He then bought more shares in November 2019 and January 2020.
John Burke, Perdue’s communications director, said Perdue does not handle the day-to-day decisions of his portfolio, which Perdue says are managed by external financial advisers.
It is not uncommon for policymakers like Yellen to hold meetings with senators. On the day of her meeting with Perdue in 2017, Yellen also met with Lord Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England, had dinner with Steve Mnuchin, the treasurer, and then with another senator, the Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio, meeting.
Former government insiders say policymakers try to be cautious during such meetings and try to avoid sharing information that could move markets. At the same time, it can be difficult to share potentially valuable information when senators and policy makers discuss an issue in depth, and a senator can determine an evolving policy position that may be market sensitive.
The new revelations come as Perdue’s regular stock trading, while in office, was scrutinized in the press ahead of Tuesday’s Senate election. If the Democrats win two by-elections, control of the Senate from Republicans will be transferred to Democrats.
Previous media reports have focused on how Perdue faced federal investigation for his regular stock trading while in office, and whether his position as a senator with access to market-sensitive information, especially during the pandemic, may have affected some trading. The New York Times, citing several anonymous sources, said the sale of Perdue’s $ 1 million in stock at a financial company called Cardlytics, where he served on the board, drew the attention of investigators at the Department of Justice. last year, which provided a broad overview of the senator’s productive dealings against the onset of the coronavirus pandemic for possible evidence of insider trading ”.
The investigators finally concluded that a personal message sent to Perdue by the company’s CEO, referring to ‘upcoming changes’, was not ‘non-public information’, and that they would not want the charge do not feed. Perdue sold his stock two days after receiving the personal message from the CEO. About six weeks later, the CEO resigned and the company revealed that the results were below expectations, causing the stock to tumble.
The New York Times separately reported that Perdue and others, as members of the Senate Cyber Security Committee, sought the protection of the National Guard against data breaches. According to the newspaper, Perdue started buying and selling shares in a cybersecurity firm called FireEye on 61 occasions in 2016. Nearly half of these trades, the New York Times reported, took place while Perdue sat on the cybersecurity committee, which could give him access to sensitive information.
Perdue’s senate campaign did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. He had earlier denied that he had any conflict of interest.
But Perdue’s challenger in the wake of this week’s senator, Democrat Jon Ossoff, has repeatedly raised the issue, accusing Perdue of using his office to enrich himself.
Perdue’s spokesman called the criticism “unfounded” and stressed that he had been “totally acquitted” by federal investigators.