Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue’s off-market sale of his Washington home to an industry lobbyist whose organization is under the purview of the Senate committee he sits on is raising questions over whether the deal was a violation of Senate ethics.
The $1.8 million purchase, first reported by ProPublica on Thursday, was made off-market, meaning the home was not listed publicly.
Perdue sold the Seventh Street property to Hillary Sale, a board governor for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, a privately funded self-regulatory body for the securities industry. FINRA falls under the purview of the Senate Banking Committee, which Perdue sits on.
Congressional watchdogs say that if Perdue sold his home above its market value to Sale, it would be a violation of ethics because it would be providing an opportunity for favoritism to someone appearing before his committee.
“Since the purchase and sale of this property by Sen. Perdue was not done on the open market, it raises serious suspicions as to whether the sale was in fact market value,” Craig Holman, an expert on campaign finance reform and governmental ethics at Public Citizen, told ProPublica.
He added that if the price was above fair market value, it “would be a violation of [Perdue’s] ethical obligations and an opportunity for those with business pending before Perdue’s committee to curry favor.”
Regardless of intention, it’s not a good look, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, a policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the Washington Examiner.
“A lot of sketchy stuff happens in D.C., unfortunately,” he said. “It’s kind of a questionable move.”
Hedtler-Gaudette added that sometimes, the appearance of impropriety is worse than the real thing.
At the time of the sale, FINRA was lobbying the Senate Banking Committee, though a spokesperson said that the organization did not specifically target Perdue.
Four local real estate agents told ProPublica the price tag for Perdue’s northeast Washington property was above market value by up to $140,000. A fifth agent disagreed and said the price was listed at fair market value. Sale provided an appraisal that showed Perdue sold his home for slightly under market value.
Hedtler-Gaudette said it would be hard to prove an ethics violation because the sale was made privately.
Those close to Perdue have dismissed the allegations as an attack ginned up by Democrats trying to damage his reputation.
“The Perdues did not know any of the individuals, and they used the same realtor during the purchase and sale of the property,” Perdue’s spokesman told ProPublica. The spokesman also said the couple’s real estate agent, Justin Paulhamus, had “floated [the property] off-market first, and they would have put it on-market but got an offer at their asking price, which was fair market value.”
Perdue is locked in a tight runoff race against challenger Jon Ossoff. The election is one of two in Georgia that will determine which party takes control of the Senate in January.
Perdue has faced multiple allegations in the past that he has blurred the line between his private financial interests with his work as an elected official.
He has bought and sold shares in companies that the committees he sits on have jurisdiction over.
The Justice Department investigated him for possible insider trading, which Perdue strongly denied.
While prosecutors decided not to bring charges against him, it hasn’t stopped Democrats from using them to paint Perdue as the ultimate Washington insider with questionable ethics.
An email request made by the Washington Examiner to the Senate Banking Committee for comment was not immediately returned. Perdue’s reelection campaign did not offer any additional comment.
