On Wednesday night, federal agents seized the phone of Senator Richard Burr of NC as part of an investigation into Senator Burr’s suspicious stock trades just before the COVID-19 virus hit the US. The Justice Department is investigating whether the stock trades performed by Burr and other Senators coincided with laws preventing Congress members from trading on insider information learned from official government work. Burr’s phone was taken after agents delivered a search warrant to his Washington residence.
The Justice Department will reportedly examine Burr’s communications with his broker to determine whether the Congressman broke the law with his controversial pre-COVID-19 stock trades. A warrant of this nature served to a sitting US senator requires approval from the high ranks of the Justice Department, which is a measure taken very seriously within the US government. Another warrant was reportedly obtained to search through Burr’s iCloud account, and agents report that data from this account was used to obtain the phone warrant.
Read More: FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus