Insider Trading in Congress - How Politicians GET RICH

FIN657 ISSUES AND ETHICS IN FINANCE
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA MALAYSIA

FAKULTI PENGURUSAN PERNIAGAAN
FIN657
ISSUES AND ETHICS IN FINANCE
GROUP ASSIGNMENT
DOCUMENTARY REVIEW
DOCUMENTARY TITLE:
“Insider Trading in Congress – how politicians GET RICH (Mini Documentary)”
GROUP:
BA2425B
NAME STUDENT ID
NUR EKA AINAA BINTI ABD RAHIM 2019602096
NIK FARINA AZLIN BINTI OMAR 2019892968
NUR SYAZWANI BINTI LATIB 2019631216
NUR SYAZWANI ARISYA BINTI AZREEN 2019451748
NURULAIN IZZATI BINTI BAHARUM 2019608194
PREPARED FOR:
DR. NURAZLEENA BINTI ISMAIL
SUBMISSION DATE:
June 20th, 2021
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, praise and thank be to Allah SWT, the almighty, who has granted countless
blessing, knowledge, and opportunity to us, so that we have been able to complete this
documentary review.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks of gratitude to our amazing lecturer, Dr.
Nurazleena binti Ismail for her guidance, support and opportunity in doing this assignment for
the subject Issues and Ethics in Finance (FIN657). It has been a privileged to work under her
guidance and support. This review from video documentary related to issues in finance helps us
improved our skills as well as increasing our knowledge because it gives us in-depth
understanding about the financial issues. The opportunity to be able to do this assignment is very
much helping us discover more regarding the issues among students in UiTM Kota Bharu.
Furthermore, we would like to extend our gratitude to each of the team members and classmates
for lending a hand and for always be there through the entire journey of completing this report.
Thank you for helping us in times we were having difficulties in understanding the instructions or
questions as well helping us to put these ideas well above the level of simplicity into something
concrete.
Lastly, we would like to sincerely thank Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for offering this
subject as a golden opportunity as it helps to improve skills and gain more knowledge in doing the
overall assessment.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
COVER PAGE i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii
TABLE OF CONTENT iii
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2–4
3. FINDINGS 5 – 16
4. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 17 – 19
5. CONCLUSION 20
6. REFERENCES iv – vi
7. APPENDICES vii – x
ASSIGNMENT DECLARATION FORMS xi – xv
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1. INTRODUCTION
The chosen video documentary is “Insider Trading in Congress – how politician GET
RICH (Mini Documentary)” published by Game The System, a content creator on YouTube. The
channel was managed by Gabriele Muratori, a video editor also a project coder and Graffic Media,
a producer, rapper and vocalist based in Washington, DC. Both partners work together compelling
stories about entrepreneurship, international affairs, business and technology. They start to actively
post such documentaries in September 2020. The purpose of posting videos related to financial
issues are as educational and entertainments content only. But still, viewers can gain knowledge
and ideas from the contents.
The video explains one of the biggest issue going on in early phase of the widespread of
Coronavirus in the US. The main issue highlighted in the documentary is related to unethical
behaviour among politicians. The politicians involved are 1. Kelly Loeffler, a former US senator
from 2020 to 2021, 2. David Perdue, a former US senator from 2015 to 2021, 3. Dianne Fienstein,
a US senator since 1992, and 4. Richard Burr, a US senator since 2005. The unethical behaviours
among the politicians are illegal insider trading, money laundering, and misuse of power.
Game The System, the content creator also provide information regarding the timeline of
the activities involving the politicians along with the investigation details from the department of
justice including the history of how the Stock Act 2012 was signed by Barack Obama works. It is
an Act of Congress designed to combat insider trading enacted on April 4th, 2012. The timeline
of illegal activities by the politicians provided in the video was neatly conveyed starting from
January 23rd, 2020 until May 26th 2020. Three out of four of the cases was disclosed, however
one case which is Richard Burr’s is still under ongoing investigation.
The illegal insider trading among the politicians happened in the US in the early year of
2020. The stated congresses above benefits a huge amount of money from their investments.
However, the gains they received from the investments were results from the non-public
information from irresponsible people who spread the private information. They used the
information to trade stocks in their own portfolios. It is really unethical for an investor to act such
behaviour. Their dirty ways to gain profits was leaked to the media, and it affects their positions
and image as senators of the country of United States.
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The main issue discovered in the video documentary selected, is unethical behaviour
among congressmen. The issue arises as the congresses misuse their powerful position by using
insider information to boost their stock portfolios ahead of the very real threat of a pandemic-
driven market crash.
According to (Girardin, 2012), politics is an important human activity-crucial in the

construction of civilizations and communities based on norms, regulations, and a balance of
competing interests. Citizens, political parties, legislators, government officials, the courts, the
media, businesses, non-profit organisations, and religious and educational institutions must all take
on a high degree of responsibility and dedication. However, surveys across all continents on
people's trust in institutions indicate that people have little faith in politics and politicians. They
are often portrayed as greedy and unscrupulous power brokers, supporting particular interests
above the common good and various segments of the community. "Ethics in politics" appears to
most to be a misunderstanding of words, despite the fact that many politicians strive to do their
finest for the public good of a country or the world community.
The study of good and bad behavior is referred to as ethics. We are frequently confronted
with significant decisions in our everyday lives. Should I fulfil my word or violate it? Based on
the ideas of (Business Ethics: The Power of Doing the Right Thing, 2012) ethics can be categorized
into two section which are the capacity to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, and
appropriateness from impropriety is the first. The second entails a determination to do what is
right, good, and appropriate. While, for unethical behavior can be defined as behavior that deviates
from what is ethically acceptable or appropriate for a person, profession, or industry. Individuals,
companies, professions, and politicians may all engage in unethical behavior.
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Is Morality Important in Politics? Yes it is important in politics. In fact, it is more important

than ever. In politics, procedure and agency are as important as vision and political or
programmatic goals. Level of trust are developed over time via mechanisms that are inclusive of
all investors, open to dissidents, and evaluated collaboratively. Ethics gives politicians a significant
value and ensure equal treatment of political stakeholders, emphasizing equality and fairness,
reminding us that power is limited in politics, and providing a long-term perspective. Justice,
defined as equality and cooperation, is the most important ethical ideal in politics.
Next, insider trading can be defined as the action of making an investment in a publicly
listed business while having knowledge of significant information that is not yet public. Any
information that may have a significant impact on an investor's decision to buy or sell a stock is
considered material information (Corporate Finance Institute, 2018). Non-public information is
information that is not legally in the public domain and is only in the hands of a few individuals
who are closely connected to it. A business executive or a government official who has access to
an economic report before it is made public is an example of an insider.
The critical reason for insider trading is that it is unequal and stops regular businesses to
invest, making it even harder for businesses to obtain money. According to (Khan et al., 2011),
they stated that pre-various studies have proven that when insiders trade their business shares, they
generate higher abnormal returns (or prevent abnormal negative returns) since they apparently
have confidential information and act on it.
From the video, we can see that several US congressmen who traded stocks from late
January to February 2020 have received significant public and media attention due to the current
COVID-19 epidemic in the US. The issue is that these politicians traded in anticipation of COVID-
19 having a significant effect on financial markets, while officially denying it (Goodell & Huynh,
2020). These congressmen misuse their power for their own benefits.
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The reasons to choose the video documentary for the documentary review is to gain more
knowledge or dark side of politicians. Other than that, to spread awareness regarding the corruption
of congresses who oppress the minority in the world of investment. Lastly, to gain more input of
insider trading and unethical behavior in the businesses, politics and individuals.
There are several questions can be constructed based on the documentary regarding the
issues enlightens by the content creator. The questions are as below:
1)What are the main issues that the content creator trying to convey?
2)When was the issues take place resulting growing in concern to the media?
3)How money and politics closely related in the US?
4)What is the Stock Act 2012?
5)Who are the high ranking politicians involved in the issues?
6)What is the impact of the spread of Covid-19 to the US market?
7)Why congresses shouldn’t be allowed to trade stocks?
8)Who are the organization that are helping them in committing the crime of insider trading?
9)Which Senate Committee involved in these cases?
10) How are the department of justice investigating the congresses?
11) Why aren’t there any charges for the crime committed by the politicians?
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3. FINDINGS
The content creator explained the insider trading “scandal” in congress in the United States
in the early 2020. This video further explains how money and politics are closely related in various
aspects especially in contributing to the success in the US market. According to the narrator,
money and politics are tied together by relationship, speeches, interviews, book deals, appearance
or public image of the politicians used to market successful products in the market mostly through
legal means. However, there are many high-ranking people who abuse their power including using
non-public information in trading stocks for their own benefits. There happened to be cases of
illegal insider trading within the rank of congress.
Ever since the enactment (bipartisan law) signed into law by the previous president Barack
Obama, there has not been any convictions regarding the insider trading by the congress but there
have been some scandals. The Stock Act, 291, enacted April 4, 2012 is an Act of Congress
designed to combat insider trading. It was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 4,
2012. The law forbids members of Congress and other government workers from using non-public
information for private gain, including insider trading.
The STOCK Act of 2012: President Barack Obama signed the “Stop Trading on
Congressional Knowledge Act” into law in 2012, at a ceremony attended by a bipartisan cast of
legislators. The law would not only prohibit members of Congress, the executive branch, and their
staffs from trading on nonpublic information. It would substantially increase financial disclosures
and make all data accessible, making insider trading and conflicts of interest more detectable. So,
all the Senators are barred from using non-public information to make decisions about stock trades
under the 2012 STOCK Act ( (Keith, 2013).
This section covers the findings of this documentary video from Youtube which is “Insider
Trading in Congress: how politicians GET RICH (Mini Documentary)” by Game The System
channel. According to the narration, the narrator in this video started with an introduction
regarding the current US economic and political condition in the United Stated of America to the
introduction of the congress and finally the timeline of the event which the illegal insider trading
occurred. Furthermore, this short documentary also explains the organizations involved in
investigating the cases and wrap up on how some congresses got away with the accusations.
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According to the narrator, there are four players or known as congressman and
congresswoman in this issue which are Senators named Kelly Loeffler, David Purdue, Dianne
Feinstein and Richard Burr. These high-ranking politicians are among the successful Senators in
congress. The illegal insider trading cases happened in early 2020 due to the widespread shutdown
cause by Pandemic Covid-19 and have been under incredible scrutiny by the Department of Justice
and Senate Committees. Several members of congress made some incredibly well- timed trades
just before the market was ready to go down.
In a previous case, Sen. Richard Burr and several other members of Congress sold stocks
worth millions of dollars prior to the market crash in March 2020, which could be attributed, at
least in part, to their access to privileged private information from confidential hearings and
internal congressional meetings. Although the Justice Department has closed its investigations into
three other senators, the investigation of Richard Burr is still in progress.
However, the narrator claimed that it is difficult to establish a clear connection between
information obtained in closed hearings of committees and the trades. Although some suspicious
trading activities have been widely condemned, the fact that no member of Congress has been
punished under the STOCK Act demonstrates how difficult it is to prove criminal insider trading
by elected officials. Those accused of such behavior frequently argue that their transactions are
based on publicly available information or are controlled by independent trusts.
According to Kelly Loeffler's spokesperson, Sen. Loeffler does not make investment
decisions for her portfolio, and such decisions are made by several third-party advisers without her
or her husband's concern or involvement. Moreover, the Democratic senator from California,
Diane Feinstein, who’s a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sold stock owned
by herself and her husband valued at $1.5 million and $6 million between January 31th and
February 18th. The similar statement from a spokesperson for Feinstein, Tom Mentzer said that all
of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust and she has no involvement in her husband’s
financial decisions.
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Nevertheless, the case of the investments made by Dianne Feinstein and her husband,
Richard Bloom is claimed by the SEC as fairly conceivable because they are as a marriage couple.
They keep on saying that their assets are in blind trust which blind trust are often established in
situations when individuals want to avoid conflicts of interest between their employment and
investments. They claimed that there are third party who handled their assets without their
consciousness and concern and get to that extend.
ABOUT THE CONGRESSMAN AND CONGRESSWOMAN INVOLVED:

 KELLY LOEFFLER
Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler, a multi-millionaire whose husband is the chairman of
the New York stock exchange, sold millions of dollars in stocks for her own personal portfolio
shortly after she received a private briefing from health officials on the emerging pandemic
coronavirus in January, prompting a justice department investigation, which did not even lead to
charges (Sandler, 2020). However, when asked directly by the news reporter, Kelly who dumped
millions in stocks following a private Covid-19 briefing, dodged a question about whether senators
should trade stocks.
Loeffler sold millions of dollars in stocks immediately before the pandemic worsen has
been said by her as a “left-wing media lie". Loeffler said that the outside advisers handle her and
her husband's trades. The Justice Department investigated Loeffler's trading, but declined to press
charges for insider trading. on top of that, the GOP-controlled Senate Ethics Committee also
cleared Loeffler of wrongdoing (Richard, 2020).
Jeffrey Sprecher who is Kelly’s husband said the exact same thing as Kelly in her
statement, that he is not involved in day-to-day activities in his assets bas there are outside people
who handle his management. A news reporter asked to Kelly whether she dumped millions of
dollars of stock in order to protect her own investments and then weeks later when there came an
opportunity to give ordinary Georgians an extra $600 dollars of relief, she said she saw no need
and called it counterproductive. Both this husband and wife are believed to be using their power
to get inside information which is non-public to the people outside the organization.
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PROFILE:
Senator Kelly Lynn Loeffler, 50, is a Republican Congress Woman from Georgia with
whopping $500 million dollars of estimated. Most of this wealth are from she mastering her time
in the business world. She works for major labels such as Citybank, Intercontinental Exchange
(ICE) and Bakkt which she is Bakkt’s CEO at that moment. She was appointed to congress by
Bryan Kent after previous Senator resigned due to health problems. She was married to the CEO
of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Jeffrey Sprecher. They are known to be power loaded couple.
 DAVID PURDUE
Perdue actively traded stocks of banking companies, such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of
America, and Regions Financial Corporation, all of whom potentially benefited from his
deregulation bills. This is also true with First Data Corporation, a financial services firm with
which his moves appear to be particularly well-timed, since he repurchased the shares at a premium
just weeks before it was bought by Fiserv. He also sold his shares in Cardlytics, where he was a
board member, after receiving an email from the company's CEO. That was followed by an
announcement of executive changes and a sharp tumble of the stock price.
Sen. David Perdue’s suspicious stock success shows why members of Congress should not
be allowed to trade individual stocks. David Perdue lies about his financial dealings other than his
personal misconduct. He traded about 200 stocks in different industries, some of which fall within
the purview of his position on Senate committees and his prior position in the private sector.
Indeed, several pandemic-related stocks, such as Pfizer, DuPont, and Caesars Holdings, figure in
his trades.
Additional information:
Senate Stock Watcher provides financial disclosure data from the Senate, which can be used to
replicate Perdue’s performance. We focused on all stocks that were purchased and subsequently
sold between January 2015, when Perdue entered the Senate, and April 2020, when he disposed
of almost all his stocks. We then evaluated the equally weighted return performance of all stocks
in Perdue’s portfolio relative to that of the total return on the S&P 500 stock market index,
accounting for the reinvestment of dividends (Patrick Augustin, 2020).
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PROFILE:
Senator David Alfred Perdue Jr, 71, is also a Congressman Republican from Georgia. He
has a senior position at Reebok, Pillowtex and Dollar General. His net worth is estimated to be
$15 million dollars. Same with Kelly, his net worth achieved from the business world and through
his time in management consulting. He is an American politician and business executive who
served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021. He is a member of the
Republican Party. After 12 years as a management consultant, Perdue became the senior vice
president for Reebok, eventually becoming CEO. While at it, he is the CEO in a company called
Dollar General.
 DIANNE FEINSTEIN:
The Democratic senator from California, Diane Feinstein, who’s a ranking member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, she is one of the richest Senator in the Office until today. However,
there were no charged being lead to her as the investigations were closed in 2020. She actually
sold stock owned by herself and her husband valued at $1.5 million and $6 million between
January 31th and February 18th.
However, her statement through her spokesperson, Tom Mentzer said that all Senator
Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust and he added to his speech that Feinstein has no involvement
in her husband’s financial decisions. Dianne has a huge investment and her wealth mostly comes
from this investment which is the The Ritz Calton Hotel.
In one case, Dianne had sold her stocks at a particular date. The stocks which belong to her
husband who sold shares of Cancer Therapy Company. At that time, Richard Bloom was the
chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee stepping aside temporarily as he was investigated
by the FBI. He stepped down from his pose because the FEDS (Federal Reserve System) in
America was investigating whether he use illegal inside trading to sell stocks and save huge
amount of money before the pandemic tank the market.
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PROFILE:
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein, 87, is a Democrat from California and one of the
wealthiest Senator in office with her net worth estimated of $58.5 million dollars which associated
with one incredibly valuable asset, The Ritz Calton Hotel properties in San Francisco investment.
Moreover, she was married to a successful investment banker name Richard Bloom. She was
mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988. Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from
Stanford University in 1955.
 RICHARD BURR
This is one of the most interesting Senators out of the bunch. He is a Republican Senator
from North Carolina and the Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC: Mission: The
Committee was created by the Senate in 1976 to oversee and make continuing studies of the
intelligence activities and programs of the United States Government and also to submit to the
Senate appropriate proposals for legislation and report to the Senate concerning such intelligence
activities and programs. The case of Sen. Richard Burr stocks trading during Covid-19 widespread
shutdown has finally been closed in early January 2021 as he was going to be the front and center
of out probe into political corruption (Jim, 2020). The results of his investigations are as follows:
 Department of Justice will not prosecute Sen. Richard Burr with a crime in connection with
stock trades he conducted after being informed about Covid-19 last year. (Mangan, 2012)
 Burr's trades took place just before the coronavirus epidemic shook the US economy, sending
stock markets down.
 Burr's investigation had included the extraordinary seizure of his mobile phone by the FBI in
May, which resulted in his resignation as head of the influential Senate Intelligence Committee
the same month.
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PROFILE:
Richard Mauze Burr, 65, is an American businessman and politician who is the senior
United States Senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican
Party, Burr was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is the
dean of North Carolina's congressional. His net worth of estimated $7 million dollars, Burr’s net
worth was generated through humble means because for 17 years he served as a sales manager
for a lawn company and this was before he was elected to the house of the representatives and
after serving to several terms there, then he was elected to the Senate in 2014.
The narrator believes that despite the high role of Richard Burr, he should be held with
higher scrutiny compared to the others because his mistakes were huge compared to the others.
His cases went under a long-term scrutiny but ended in early January 2021.
o TIMELINE OF THE EVENT:
2020 (At the time when the video was made).
JANUARY 23rd - Senate Health Committee and Senate Foreign Relation Committee released the
public statement; “Novel Coronavirus is an emerging health treat. Our country is prepared as the
situation develop.” The narrator urged us to remember the statement for the next information
regarding the Congress.
JANUARY 24th – In January 24th, the two Senate Committees held a meeting and they talked
about the affective areas and the growing treats of the virus that is going to find its way to America.
At this time, Kelly Loeffler and her husband organized some pretty high trades with her husband
in total of $1.275 million- $3.1 million dollar. They purchased a stock in a company called Citrix.
Senator Loeffler sold these stocks is considered an apparent effort to avoid potential losses.
Moreover, she also purchased stocks in two companies that were deemed to benefit from the
coronavirus, including one in a company that offers teleconferencing software, which would help
people who are working remotely from home.
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CITRIX: Citrix is a technology company concept which “work from home” since pandemic
become common and etc. Their header on their webpage explains their motto, “Create works from
anywhere experience that actually works”.
Kelly and her husband are not the type to invest in a company with no name for pennies,
Instead, Citix company benefits them a lot. In January 24th, single stock of Citrix is $124 dollars
apiece. Soon after the briefing in regards of the Coronavirus affects the American, they became
suspicious as Senator Kelly suddenly a foresight to purchase a company whose products is work
from home solutions.
We can see the timing here is not so coincidence and it relates to each other. This is a
pretty smart trade because the stock steadily rose as the Pandemic starts. It has been proven by the
SEC fillings records that shows Senator Kelly Loeffler sold stock on 7th april at $145 dollars. Here
is one more interesting fact, David Purdue also made an interesting trade soon after he heard about
the briefing, in a company called Dupont.
DUPONT: This company’s products sell something that will be short in supply during Covid-19
which is the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Unfortunately, the market did not go really
well because the market can be tricky. Here the finding is even those high demand products is not
immune to the market crash that occurred in March.
Now, this is the worst sell off in Wall Streets since financial crisis in 2008. They are
growing concerns and fears that the ovid-19 virus can lead to a recession. At the time when the
video was made, the Dow plunging after 4 days, the stock price is high for the last few and then
declined drastically and the Dupont stocks tank from 59 points to 28 points on March 23rd. Soon
after that, the stock steadily rising so David sold some stocks along the way. However, it is unclear
how much he owns because Dupont stocks currently (at the time when the video was made) is $81
dollars.
On the same day as well, Diane’s husband made an interesting trade as well as he sold
millions of share of a biotech company called Allogene Therapeutics which is a gene engineering
company. The trades are technically under his husband name so the trades relations also comes
under scrutiny SEC said that this is fairly conceivable because they are as a marriage couple.
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FEBRUARY 7th: Richard Burr along with fellow Senator, Lamar Alexander published their
opinion that are meant to quell the nerves of the U.S citizens. Alexander highlights the preparation
by the U.S has taken to protect the American. The editorial include statement such as: “Thankfully,
the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threat,
like the coronavirus and large part due to the work of Senate Health Committee, Congress and
Trump Administration. The article projects its readiness of the American to take on the coronavirus
which is not accurate and false.
This is in no way that Burr outright lie to the Americans. In fact, in the opening is that the
Americans are rightfully concerns about the Coronavirus as there are new cases happened at that
time in the U.S. However, behind the close doors, Burr does not seem to be projecting the same
amount of confidence in the U.S.
FEBRUARY 13th: Again, Burr sold $1.7 million of stock including stock in Hotel chain Windham
and the extended stay in America. There is no denial that the hotel business is largely depend of
the willingness and ability of the American to travel. This trade is a little aggressive for someone
who thinks that the situation is under control.
FEBRUARY 27th: Burr attended a meeting organized by the Tar Heel circle. The Tar Heel circle
is a group of individuals that associated with the business in Carolina and their purpose is to
connect those people with important people in Washington DC. At the time of the meeting, there
are dozens people who donated hundred thousand Dollar to Burr U.S re-election campaign in 2015
and 2016. Burr shared key details about Coronavirus and what the Government knows about it.
“It is more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history.
(even more akin to 1918 pandemic)” Bur said that in his statement and he said the previous trend
obtained by the NPR through a secret recording ( NPR) which is an American privately and
publicly funded non-profit media organization based in Washington, D.C. Burr told those insiders
about how the military hospitals were set to be mobilized in New York and other areas which was
at that time not a public information.
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The news about this meeting and the mews about his stock transaction shock Burr deeply
and this happened when he started to release a statement denying the accusations of using and
sharing non-public information which both are consider as crimes. He was so confidence so he
requested himself the Senate Ethics Commitee to investigate himself on his actions on March 20th
so by March 30th, the Department of Justice started investigating Burr and the three other Senators
Kelly, Jom Inholes and Dianne. Curiously, it was weird because David Purdue was not under the
scrutiny as he was not listed.
MAY 13th: The situations reached its head when FBI confiscated Burr’s cellphone and issues. A
warrant to search his iCloud account so this issue escalated real quick as it was under criminal
investigation to the point the FBI has to issue a warrant to seize his phone and DOJ was involved
in this case and take it to the next level.
This issue is a huge disaster for Burr his actions could potentially be illegal, in response, he stepped
down from his position as a chairman pf Senate Intelligence Committee.
MAY 26th: Department of Justice said they wanted to end its probe into Kelly, Inhofe and
Freinstein. However, they disclose any information in regarding investigation proceeded or the
respond it was dropped. The three senators rallied around the News as usual with fresh statements
reiterating their innocence. At the time when the video was made, the investigation on Burr did
not end yet as the FBI found another incriminating transactions made by Burr on 2018.
WRAP UP:
All the Senators involved did not get serve by the State and there are a few hypothesis about why
nothing happened to these senators:
 The Department of Justice is playing partisan politics and chose not to indict certain
individuals because of their political affiliations.
Content creator’s different theory:
 The whole basis for this illegal insider trading that has to come from non-public
information. These Senators are lucky because they have such a convincing piece
of evidence to prove their not guilty.
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 There was a public release from the Senate Health Committee on January 23rd that
this case can all easily be made that all the senators sold stocks and operating solely
on public information about the emerging public health treat. Unfortunately, we
will never know what exactly happened in the Department of Justice.
However, these Senators did not escape from their consequences. Kelly was up for re-
election and lost. The other Senators also had to step down from their positions despite having bad
reputations and being under incredible scrutiny. Hence, these are the findings that are found in this
mini documentary. This documentary is useful enough for the audience to get in-depth
understanding regarding this issue (Illegal Insider Trading) in the business world today.
Page | 15
STATISTIC OF CASES
Figure 1: SEC FILLINGS RECORD OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN BUSINESS

The chart above illustrates statistic of cases happened for the year 2018 to 2019 by The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is a U.S. government oversight agency responsible
for regulating the securities markets and protecting investors. These issues has been categorized
into 10 cases which are investment advisory and investment company, securities offering, issuer
reporting/ audit & accounting, broker-dealer, insider trading market manipulation, foreign corrupt
practices act, public finance, SRO/exchange, miscellaneous, transfer agent and NRSRO. The chart
shows that insider trading is on the fifth place with the highest number of case.
The chart shows the consistent with the prior fiscal year, the majority of the SEC’s 526
standalone cases in Fiscal Year 2019 concerned investment advisory and investment company
issues (36%) as the highest while the insider trading (6%). Even though insider trading percent is
low compared to the other cases, it is still one of the top 5 ranking in SEC records. According to
the American News, there are still a lot of cases of insider trading that did not lead to any charges
especially among the politicians.
The illegal insider trading is one of the highest cases according to the SEC. However, there
are no confirmed amount of cases regarding the insider trading in Congress in the United States.
There have been some scandals which stated in many News channel but ended up with closed
investigations by the FBI and Department of Justice.
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4. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATION
This segment refers to evaluate or review after watching this mini-documentary video. All
people have personal opinion toward every video they watch and decided either audience like it or
not. This segment also recommended to the content creator which part of this video would be
improvised and come out with better version of mini-documentary video in the futures. Game the
System channel usually makes a video for mini documentary in their Youtube Channel, for this
video 7 out of 10 rating that would be given for this mini-documentary video. Down below I will
explain why this video get that rating and shows the pro and cons regarding this video mini
documentary.
First, regarding the tittle called “Insider Trading in Congress- How politicians GET RICH”.
They have a good title headline because it is easy to understand, and the title related with the
content that they want to deliver to the audience. The content creator chooses the impressive tittle
for this mini-documentary by using a question in the headline to attract the viewer and makes them
want to watch further this video.
Other than that, the general idea of this video was quite good and look at on how the script
generated by the content creators, the script was partially well-prepared. Then, the person who
tells the story is a good narrator because he has a good pronunciation and the way he conveyed the
messages because it was crystal clear and engaged. I can feel the narrator is very interested in the
issues as those messages were delivered with enough supporting information. This indicates the
narrator had done enough research in regards of insider trading among congress before they
publish this video to the audience. The narrator also sounds naturally enthusiastic and the story
was being delivered in an orderly manner, well-edited which makes it more understandable for the
viewers.
Other good things about this video is probably the visual effects used such as good quality
of sounds effect, background music, high quality of picture, the statistic and color used in this
video would be the biggest reasons why this video are interesting to watch. Most of all, I like how
entertaining the video is as the content creator put so much efforts in enhancing the video by using
appropriate length.
Page | 17
The most interesting part in this video is when the narrator stated the ways that we can do
it on how to get rich. He gave us four ways which is created a successful business, invest in a
successful business, commit a crime or become a politician. The reasons why this scene catch my
eyes because the elements that the creators used which is mix of feelings toward a bright sides and
dark sides of the world. How the world is both cruel and beautiful. This is the reasons why many
people want to be a politician because they want to get involve in insider trading and use their
power to manipulate the money and become rich. Moreover, not many people know about the dark
side of Politics.
Other than that, the scene when Richard burr is the front and center of out into political
corruption. By using his experience, serve as a sales manager for lawn company. The producer
believes that despite the high role of Richard burr compared with others. Richard burr net worth
of 7 million dollars generated from insider trading. This is one of the interesting scandals among
others scandal that have been told in this mini-documentary video.
Love the overall idea, but want to suggest and give some ideas to the content creators to
improvise the storylines in this video. The fact that they put too much information and people who
involve in these scandals at the same time and tend to explain each scandal with the clear evidence
regarding the issues, it makes the storyline seems not smooth and blurry for the people who first
time watch this kind of documentary. The content is good enough, but the content creator must
restructure the storyline to look smoother.
Then, this video would be much better if they have longer duration for this video. They
should improvise the duration of this video, after that they can restructure the storylines because
with longer duration, many topics and issues they want to convey to the audience can be seen
clearly. So, to get a better version of mini-documentary, they need to prepare the actual times or
duration suitable with the issues and information.
Page | 18
Next, the element that they need to improve is memes used in this video. Meme is an
integral part of digital lives. Meme used to keep the video entertain and admit to having laughed.
But, for this mini-documentary video, some memes are not needed to be added because the memes
are not suitable or related with the issues. Hence, the memes that they used also disturb the focus
of the audience to concentrate watching the video until the end.
Lastly, add some suspend scene in this video. This is one of the important element should
be added to this mini-documentary because building suspense are one of the video technique to
catch viewers heart. By adding some suspend scene in this video would make the video much
better and the storylines are not too boring and plain to be watch. This is some ideas on how the
content creator can develop a better version of mini-documentary.
Overall, this is a good mini-documentary video and much better than the rest of the videos
and issue we are being fed regularly. But, this video could be better if they improvise the story
lines in this video. However, it is very recommend to everyone to watch this documentary video
because it will give audience a new knowledge and awareness about the insider trading among
politicians that you’re not aware before.
Page | 19
5. CONCLUSION
To conclude the documentary review on the video, “Insider Trading in Congress – how
politician GET RICH (Mini Documentary)”, the publisher really success to educate their viewers
regarding the issues highlighted in the video. Illegal insider trading, money laundering and misuse
of power are very common issues globally. It’s on the government and other responsible parties to
take action on such irresponsible and unethical acts. The video does open the eyes of the viewers
on how slick and dirty the politics plays as they use illegal information for the purpose of self-
benefits. It is really important as an individual to educate themselves about the issues and ethics in
finance in order to stay ethical in the businesses and investments world. Politicians, the person
who supposed to support and protect their people and country, involved in such unethical
behavior? Done the selfish act by gaining benefits from unfair trades? It is such irresponsible deed
and should not be done by a elected professional.
Page | 20
6. REFERENCES
Business Ethics: The Power of Doing the Right Thing. (2012). Lardbucket.org.
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/powerful-selling/s07-business-ethics-the-power-
of-d.html
Corporate Finance Institute. (2018, February). Insider Trading. Corporate Finance Institute;
Corporate Finance Institute.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/trading-investing/what-is-
insider-trading/
Girardin, B. (2012). Ethics in Politics Why it matters more than ever and How it can make a
difference.
https://www.globethics.net/documents/4289936/13403252/FocusSeries_05_EthicsinPoliti
cs_Benoit_text.pdf/bf28841e-216a-41ff-bca6-4ef9d4022d86
gmurrt.github.io/MyPortfolio/
Goodell, J. W., & Huynh, T. L. D. (2020). Did Congress trade ahead? Considering the reaction
of US industries to COVID-19. Finance Research Letters, 101578.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101578
Guardian News and Media. (2021, January 4). Revealed: David Perdue bought bank stocks after
meeting financial officials. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2021/jan/04/republican-david-perdue-georgia-senate-runoff-traded-bank-stocks.
https://www.sec.gov/files/enforcement-annual-report-2019.pdf
https://youtu.be/3nvkfAP19rE
INSIGHT: SEC's 2019 Enforcement Report Suggests Rise in Accounting Fraud Investigations in
2020. Bloomberg Law. (n.d.). https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/insight-secs-
2019-enforcement-report-suggests-rise-in-accounting-fraud-investigations-in-2020.
Page | iv
Johnston, M. (1986). The Political Consequences of Corruption: A Reassessment. Comparative
Politics, 18(4), 459. https://doi.org/10.2307/421694
Keith, T. (2013). How Congress Quietly Overhauled Its Insider-Trading Law. Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/04/16/177496734/how-congress-quietly-
overhauled-its-insider-trading-law
Kelly, J. (2020, March 20). Senators Accused Of Insider Trading, Dumping Stocks After
Coronavirus Briefing. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/03/20/senators-accused-of-insider-trading-
dumping-stocks-after-coronavirus-briefings/?sh=6c60e0e34a45.
Khan, W. A., Baker, H. K., Chaudhry, M., & Maheshwari, S. K. (2011). The Impact Of Insider
Trading On Market Liquidity In The NASDAQ Market. Journal of Applied Business
Research (JABR), 21(4). https://doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v21i4.1454
Lai-Lim, C. (2021, April 27). Lee Kwang Soo is Leaving Hit Korean Variety Show Running Man
After 11 Years. Tatler Singapore. https://sg.asiatatler.com/society/lee-kwang-soo-leaves-
running-man-variety-show.
Mangan, D. (2012). DOJ will not criminally charge Sen. Richard Burr for stock trades he made
after getting Covid intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/19/doj-
will-not-charge-sen-richard-burr-for-covid-stock-trades.html
Patrick Augustin, F. C. (2020). Sen. David Perdue’s suspicious stock success shows why
members of Congress shouldn’t be allowed to trade individual stocks. Retrieved from
https://fortune.com/2020/12/17/david-perdue-stock-act-insider-trading/
Person. (2021, January 20). Justice Department won't charge Sen. Richard Burr over stock
trades. ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. https://abc11.com/richard-burr-insider-trading-
investigation-doj/9823231/.
Relman, E. (2020, December 7). Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler, who dumped millions in
stocks following a private Covid-19 briefing, dodged a question about whether senators
should trade stocks. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-
republican-kelly-loeffler-dodges-question-about-stock-trading-2020-12.
Page | v
Sandler, R. (2020). Senate Ethics Panel Drops Insider Trading Probe Into Kelly Loeffler .
Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/16/senate-ethics-
panel-drops-insider-trading-probe-into-kelly-loeffler/?sh=4188fec5416c
Temkin, B. R., & Markarian, M. (2020). Is Senator Burr Guilty of Insider Trading under the
STOCK Act? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.375526
Page | vi
APPENDICES
Kelly Loeffler David Perdue
Dianne Fienstein Richard Burr
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Screenshots from the video:

1.
Time: 0:02
2.
Time: 1:55
Page | viii
3.
Time: 2:57
4.
Time: 3:20
Page | ix
5.
Time: 3:54
6.
Time: 4.24
Page | x
ASSIGNMENT DECLARATION FORMS
Page | xi
Page | xii
Page | xiii
Page | xiv
Page | xv

Insider Trading in Congress - How Politicians GET RICH

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Insider Trading in Congress - How Politicians GET RICH

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FIN657 ISSUES AND ETHICS IN FINANCE

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA MALAYSIA

According to (Girardin, 2012), politics is an important human activity-crucial in the

Is Morality Important in Politics? Yes it is important in politics. In fact, it is more important

ABOUT THE CONGRESSMAN AND CONGRESSWOMAN INVOLVED:

o TIMELINE OF THE EVENT:

2020 (At the time when the video was made).

Content creator’s different theory:

Figure 1: SEC FILLINGS RECORD OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN BUSINESS

4. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATION

Corporate Finance Institute.

of US industries to COVID-19. Finance Research Letters, 101578.

Johnston, M. (1986). The Political Consequences of Corruption: A Reassessment. Comparative

Politics, 18(4), 459. https://doi.org/10.2307/421694

Trading On Market Liquidity In The NASDAQ Market. Journal of Applied Business

Research (JABR), 21(4). https://doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v21i4.1454

Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/16/senate-ethics-

STOCK Act? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.375526

Kelly Loeffler David Perdue

Dianne Fienstein Richard Burr

Screenshots from the video:

ASSIGNMENT DECLARATION FORMS

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