President-elect Donald Trump is cherry-picking the best white-collar criminals for his Cabinet, and the choices keep getting worse.
As CNN reported, Trump is considering Kelly Loeffler as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Loeffler doesn’t look like she knows much about driving a tractor or feeding cattle. Still, she is good at skirting the rules on insider trading and being an unindicted co-conspirator in the Trump scheme to steal votes in Georgia while participating in a fake elector scheme for the 2020 election.
Loeffler, a short-term Senator from Georgia, got her “get out of jail free card” after the special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, recommended charges against her, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and former GOP Sens. David Perdue, according to the special counsel grand jury report released Sept. 8, 2023. But, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did not charge the lawmakers when she returned an indictment last month against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in that sprawling vote-fixing racketeering case. 
Loeffler is married to billionaire Jeff Sprecher, 69, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the New York Stock Exchange chairman. Sprecher is not an elected official and was never convicted of criminal activity. Still, he is a public figure as CEO and chairman of a publicly-held company and the NYSE chairman. The NYSE is a self-regulatory organization (a DSRO) charged with self-policing trading on the exchange and trading of all its member firms, publicly traded listed companies, and members. As such, it purports to be the pinnacle of self-regulation and transparency and the epitome of free market capitalism.
Then-Senator Loeffler was involved in an insider trading scandal in 2020. At that time, Loeffler was accused of trading on information she received in a confidential briefing about the impact of the COVID-19 virus. She and her financial advisors then sold stocks that the virus would hurt. After an investigation, Loeffler and Sprecher were not charged in the insider trading case.
Loeffler met Sprecher when she worked at the ICE, where she was senior vice president of corporate communications, marketing, and investor relations. Sprecher, who is 15 years older than Loeffler, married her in 2004. Based on their history, both love money and power and are not accountable to their shareholders or constituents. According to Bloomberg, the couple’s estimated net worth is $1 billion.
Insider Trading is OK With Loeffler and Sprecher
As a U.S. Senator from Georgia, Loeffler voted in favor of regulations that would benefit her and her husband personally by voting on regulations that were considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that came before her committee for a vote. The Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones Magazine reporter David Corn reported this story in detail.
Now, as Trump’s presumed Secretary of Agriculture, she can repeat her transgressions since she learned from her past escapades.
She also called herself the most conservative Republican in the Senate and supported Trump; she voted in line with Trump’s positions 80% of the time. As a Trump accolade, she supported Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to build a border wall, and opposed abortion, all COVID-19 prevention measures, gun control, and the right of transgender women to participate in sports.
Loeffler also will do anything to appease Trump supporters. In this video clip, Loeffler is repeatedly asked who won the 2020 election but cannot say Biden won. She may have changed her response after her Republican handlers gave her the OK. When Trump and his wife contracted COVID, Loeffler Tweeted, “China gave this virus to our President. WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.”
Does the NYSE Look the Other Way on Insider Trading Actions?
As for NYSE chairman Sprecher, the insider trading charges raised issues about conflicts of interest and self-dealing and gave the appearance of impropriety. All this has damaged the reputation of the nation’s public company marketplace and its listed companies. NYSE-listed companies that value transparency and corporate governance should be very concerned when their shares trade on an exchange that tolerates insider trading.
Since the NYSE was founded in 1792, insider trading has been a perennial and very serious charge for the exchange’s Compliance Department. But the Complaint Department apparently looked the other way when Sprecher was charged.
The NYSE is a Designated Self-Regulatory Organization (DSRO) and can investigate and punish member firms and their top executives without SEC approval. As a publicly traded company now owned by ICE, the NYSE must comply with the same standards it applies to its own listed companies.
According to the exchange’s own rules, Sprecher violated the following:
- NYSE Rule 2010. Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade; and,
- NYSE Rule 303A.10 Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, including its conflict-of-interest provisions and insider trading rules, says explicitly, “The listed company should proactively promote compliance with laws, rules, and regulations, including insider trading laws. Insider trading is unethical and illegal and should be dealt with decisively.”
The US Justice Department dismissed the couple’s insider trading charges, citing SEC Rule b5-1. This rule allows company insiders to sell a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time.
The NYSE Board also has the power to reprimand Sprecher, but it was publicly silent when the insider trading charges were announced. Maybe that is because Sprecher, as chairman, also controls the NYSE board and the parent company (ICE) that owns exchanges worldwide. If they choose to use it, the board also has the authority to punish or remove Sprecher. But they proved too frail to take any action.
Sprecher and Loeffler’s actions raise questions about using non-public information obtained from federal sources and their shady personal motives. The NYSE has many insider trading scandals in its history and controversial decisions to award top executives, like former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso, a huge $188 million payoff when they retired.
As Trump sycophants and large donors, this couple should be on the radar screens of public companies listed on the NYSE, the media, and voters. History will repeat itself under Trump, who is pushing for less regulation and less personal accountability from his appointments, which will benefit Loeffler and Sprecher. All of them are unrepentant repeat offenders.
As Trump has said since he was elected, “Let the looting begin.”
