GOP’s David Perdue under scrutiny for suspiciously-timed financial moves amid the COVID-19 outbreak

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) made hundreds of thousands of dollars on a series of stock trades in Cardlytics, a financial technology company on whose board he once sat, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"On Jan. 23, as word spread through Congress that the coronavirus posed a major economic and public health threat, Perdue sold off $1 million to $5 million in Cardlytics stock at $86 a share before it plunged, according to congressional disclosures," reported Brian Slodysko and Richard Lardner. "Weeks later, in March, after the company’s stock plunged further following an unexpected leadership shakeup and lower-than-forecast earnings, Perdue bought the stock back for $30 a share, investing between $200,000 and $500,000. Those shares have now quadrupled in value, closing at $121 a share on Tuesday."

There is no evidence that Perdue made these trades off of non-public information, which would be a crime.

This news comes after reports that Perdue also profited off stock trades in a company that contracts with the government to design equipment for nuclear submarines, as he chaired the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and helped craft a Pentagon budget that steered billions of dollars to military assets serviced by the company.

It also comes as his fellow Georgia senator, Kelly Loeffler, has faced questions about her own stock trades as she received classified briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. She has claimed her stock trades are managed by a third party and none of the transactions were based on information she obtained in her congressional duties.

Perdue and Loeffler are both heading into runoff elections in January that will decide control of the Senate.