North Carolina Senator Richard Burr’s brother-in-law sold off tens of thousands of dollars in stock on the same day he did ahead of a market crash triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, ProPublica reports. Gerald Fauth, married to Burr’s sister, Mary Fauth, and appointed by President Donald Trump to the National Mediation Board in 2017, sold between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of stock, including significant shares in oil companies, on February 13th. The market crashed in the ensuing month, and fossil fuel companies were among the hardest hit. Burr himself sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million in stock after assuring the public the virus would cause little harm, as did other senators. He is now under investigation over trading on non-public information. Spokespeople for Burr and Fauth did not answer ProPublica’s questions as to whether they communicated about the sales.
