Speculation has swirled as of late around the mutual fund trades carried out by Senator Dick Durbin last fall. Durbin’s financial statements show that he unloaded nearly $43,000 in mutual fund shares after he was urged in a closed meeting by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to help pull together bank bailout legislation. Durbin then turned around the same day and purchased $43,562 worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock.

On Monday Fox News asked "Did a Powerful Democratic Senator Use Inside Information for Financial Gain?" and Bloomberg also reported on Durbin’s selling activity.

Some claim that there was nothing unusual about Durbin’s trading activity, and that he was simply acting as any investor may be expected to in a similar situation. Furthermore, the information regarding the bailout was disclosed publicly the next day.

Spokesman Joe Shoemaker noted that "Durbin was going what a lot of other people were doing, taking a look at their savings start to tank and trying to preserve some level of wealth by getting out of the market." 

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