Senator who dumped stocks after confidential briefing says she'll divest from individual shares

• Sen. Kelly Loeffler said on Wednesday that she'll divest from owning individual stocks.
• The Georgia Republican was widely criticized after she sold stocks following a confidential briefing.
• Loeffler says that she did not trade on the confidential information, and that the decisions were made by third-party managers.
• A second report showed she sold shares in Lululemon and TJ Maxx but bought shares in a company that produces protective equipment.
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Sen. Kelly Loeffler will divest from her ownership in individual stocks, following controversy over her investments and stock sell-off following a confidential coronavirus briefing.

The Georgia Republican said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday that she is making the decision "because the issue isn't worth the distraction."

"Although Senate ethics rules don't require it, my husband and I are liquidating our holdings in managed accounts and moving into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds," she said.

Loeffler was widely criticized after the Daily Beast reported in March that she dumped stocks likely to fall due to the coronavirus, and bought shares in a company that makes telecommuting software. A second report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this month showed she sold shares in Lululemon and TJ Maxx and bought stock in a company that makes protective equipment.

The senator says that she did not make the trades herself, and that they were executed by third-party managers.

"My family's investments are managed by third-party advisers at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Sepio Capital and Wells Fargo," she said. "These professionals buy and sell stocks on our behalf. We don't direct trading in these accounts."

"I have never used any confidential information I received while performing my Senate duties as a means of making a private profit," Loeffler said in the op-ed. "Nor has anyone in my family."

Loeffler is married to the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

The senator is up for reelection this fall, facing Republican Rep. Doug Collins. Collins is ahead of Loeffler in internal polling, Politico reported.