By Emilie Ruscoe

Law360 (June 17, 2020, 9:02 PM EDT) -- Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., didn't break the law or Senate rules with stock trades she made after early briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, the Senate's bipartisan ethics committee said Tuesday.

In letters to the senator and to two watchdog organizations who filed complaints alleging misconduct, the Select Committee on Ethics' chief counsel Deborah Sue Mayer wrote Tuesday that the committee had evaluated the claims and decided not to pursue further action.

Specifically, the committee said in its letter to Loeffler, the group had reviewed stock transactions made by the freshman senator and her husband, New York Stock Exchange chairman Jeff Sprecher, starting in early January following Senate briefings on the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Based on all the information before it, the committee did not find evidence that your actions violated federal law, Senate rules, or standards of conduct. Accordingly, consistent with its precedent, the committee has dismissed this matter," Mayer said in the letter.

Two other letters told the watchdog groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Common Cause that the committee wouldn't make further inquiry into their complaints regarding alleged insider trading by the couple. But the committee noted in its letter to Loeffler that it "retains the authority to revisit the matter should additional facts become known to the committee."

In a statement emailed Tuesday, a spokesperson for the senator said, "The Senate Ethics Committee has come to the exact same conclusion as the U.S. Department of Justice: Sen. Loeffler did absolutely nothing wrong and has been completely exonerated."

"Despite the obvious attempts by the media, political opportunists and liberal groups like CREW and Common Cause to distort reality, facts still matter and the truth is prevailing," the office added, further characterizing the allegations as "unfounded and unsubstantiated attacks."

Beth Rotman, Common Cause's national director for money in politics and ethics, told Law360 on Wednesday that the committee's determination highlights the need for reform.

"We shouldn't be in this position in the first place," she said, noting that the organization has advocated for Congress to pass legislation requiring its members to put their holdings in blind trusts while they are in office.

Representatives for the committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, and a representative for CREW declined to comment.

The watchdog groups filed their complaints with the ethics committee on March 20 following media reports that federal elected officials including Loeffler had sold off shares of companies that were eventually hard hit by the pandemic and ensuing economic downturn.

Both complaints highlight a Senate health committee closed-door meeting in January as a reported source for material nonpublic information that allegedly informed Loeffler's trading in the ensuing weeks. Common Cause also submitted complaints to both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the organization said in March.

The ethics committee is represented by its chief counsel, Deborah Sue Mayer.

Loeffler is represented by Robert L. Walker, a former chief counsel to the ethics committee, and Kevin B. Muhlendorf, a former assistant chief of the Justice Department's securities and financial fraud unit, of Wiley Rein LLP.

CREW is represented by its executive director, Noah Bookbinder.

Common Cause is represented by Paul S. Ryan, the organization's vice president of policy and litigation.

--Additional reporting by Al Barbarino. Editing by Bruce Goldman.

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