ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., has restructured his retirement savings to eliminate individual stock trades.
In a financial disclosure statement filed last month, Perdue reported that he and his wife, Bonnie, sold shares in dozens of companies and bought shares in exchange-traded funds. The couple already was invested in mutual funds and bonds.
Perdue’s announcement came one month after Georgia’s other senator, fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler, announced in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that she is liquidating her family’s holdings in stocks in individual companies and moving those investments into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.
Loeffler – and, to a lesser extent, Perdue – had been caught up in media reports that they sold a large number of stock shares following a briefing by health officials about the coronavirus pandemic.
Perdue spokeswoman Cherie Gillan pointed out that he did not attend that briefing and said he has never shared or acted on any “nonpublic” information. She also noted there was no major selloff since more purchases were made at that time, reinforcing did not profit from the COVID-19 crisis.
In a statement issued late last week, Perdue said he and his wife have retained independent advisors including Goldman Sachs and fund managers to handle most of their stock investments since 2005, almost a decade before he was elected to the Senate.
“Goldman Sachs or these independent fund managers bought and sold individual stocks without consulting with us,” he said.
Perdue said the couple continues to own three specific stocks he earned as compensation for serving on corporate boards before entering the Senate.
“Right now, I remain focused on helping Georgians recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and getting America back to work,” the senator said.
“This was a personal decision Senator Perdue and his wife made to avoid any confusion about their retirement savings,” Gillan added. “They did so voluntarily.”