U.S. stock markets have seen the most abrupt move from all-time highs to bear market status (down 20%) in history over the past few weeks, but some American Senators already had a plan for dealing with the downward slope of the American economy.

It’s been reported that some senators sold their stock holdings after being briefed about the coronavirus and the impact it will have upon the economy, jobs, and trading. While telling the general public that there was no need to panic, they bailed out of their holdings in the market, avoiding significant losses. 

What’s bizarre is the realization that before 2012, Congress members were not technically prohibited from insider trading. Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina, one of the senators allegedly involved in this scheme,  was actually a fierce opponent of the bill that ultimately banned this practice. In an interview at the time, Burr said about the potential new law, “It’s ludicrous.” He voted against the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act and said, “I mean, it’s insane.” 

In 2012, only three senators opposed legislation prohibiting insider trading by members of Congress, Burr was one of them, and now it has come back to haunt him.

Senator Kelly Loeffler from Georgia reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24. The very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus. 

Surprisingly, Loeffler had previously been an executive at Intercontinental Exchange and is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, the current chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. It is becoming increasingly evident that they should have been aware of how inappropriate this looks. It also opens them both up to regulatory and maybe even criminal investigations.