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Nevilledog

(50,687 posts)
Tue Dec 1, 2020, 10:56 AM Dec 2020

While Kelly Loeffler opposed new COVID aid, her husband's firm sought to profit off the pandemic



Tweet text:
David Corn
@DavidCornDC
SCOOP: @SenatorLoeffler opposed extending COVID aid. But at the same time, Intercontinental Exchange, her husband's firm (in which she owns up to $25M in stock), was trying to profit off the pandemic. Please read, RT, and like my latest article #gapol

While Kelly Loeffler opposed new COVID aid, her husband’s firm sought to profit off the pandemic
Intercontinental Exchange made a $11 billion deal because the coronavirus crisis created an opportunity.
motherjones.com
7:53 AM · Dec 1, 2020
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While Kelly Loeffler opposed new COVID aid, her husband's firm sought to profit off the pandemic (Original Post) Nevilledog Dec 2020 OP
Nope. She didn't marry him for his $, nope, not at all. lettucebe Dec 2020 #1
How was Loeffler ever considered eligible to be appointed in the first place? crickets Dec 2020 #2

crickets

(25,896 posts)
2. How was Loeffler ever considered eligible to be appointed in the first place?
Tue Dec 1, 2020, 03:02 PM
Dec 2020

ICE = Intercontinental Exchange

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/12/while-kelly-loeffler-opposed-new-covid-aid-her-husbands-firm-sought-to-profit-off-the-pandemic/

Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns a variety of financial exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and other financial businesses. The company is valued at close to $60 billion. Loeffler, who was appointed to to fill a vacant Senate seat in late 2019 and who now is in a run-off contest against Democrat Raphael Warnock, worked at Intercontinental Exchange for 16 years and left the firm at the end of 2018. She was a crucial part of its corporate team, according to a company press release that announced her departure: [snip]

While her husband was taking advantage of the pandemic’s effect on the housing market to advance ICE’s grand plan to gain control of the digital mortgage service sector, Loeffler has done little to address the housing and economic crises triggered by the coronavirus. In the spring, she unveiled a proposal “to restart our economy safely.” It was a hodgepodge of mostly conservative ideas, such as eliminating payroll taxes for the rest of 2020 and cutting regulations for new businesses, and reform measures related to the first wave of pandemic relief already passed. One section did note, “Families are having difficulty affording their mortgage or rent.” But Loeffler’s plan included no provisions regarding mortgage or rent relief or eviction moratoria. [snip]

In July, Loeffler noted her opposition to extending assistance to Americans hit hard by the coronavirus recession: “I am not seeing a big need to extend the federal unemployment insurance.”

More recently, Loeffler, like her fellow Senate Republicans, has not said much (or anything) about the looming eviction and foreclosure crises. In September, the Centers for Disease Control imposed a moratorium on residential evictions for people making less than $99,000 a year (or $198,000 for a couple). It ends on December 31. Other economic assistance benefits from the CARES Act that was passed in March also expire at the end of the month, including certain unemployment benefits that could affect millions of people and their ability to pay rent or mortgage bills. Also, mortgage forbearance provisions in the CARES Act are scheduled to end in March 2021. All this and more—including the accelerating spread of COVID-19—are likely to lead to a spike in mortgage foreclosures and evictions. But the new “wave of foreclosures,” Millionacres, a Motley Fool service, pointed out, will likely lead to a real estate buying spree. That could be good news for Sprecher and ICE, given the company’s acquisition of Ellie Mae. And ICE will continue to benefit, if the pandemic real estate market remains as strong as it has been.

Loeffler and Sprecher’s financial actions have generated controversy on another front. In January, after she attended a private Senate briefing on the coronavirus threat, she and her husband made a series of stock sales. This included buying stock in firms that develop teleworking software. They subsequently sold off $18.7 million shares in ICE and also dumped shares in retail outlets. Once news of these trades emerged, Loeffler denied exploiting confidential information she had obtained as a senator. The Senate Ethics Committee stated it found “no evidence” she had violated the law or Senate rules. By the way, Loeffler sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates ICE. (Sen. David Perdue, a Republican campaigning alongside Loeffler in Georgia’s other run-off election on January 5, was also snared in a stock-selling scandal. At least one case of his personal wheeling-and-dealing was investigated by the feds, but no charges were filed.)


Conflicts of interest everywhere, insider trading... Loeffler and her husband are unprincipled vultures. The entire article is well worth the read.
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