Efforts to clamp down on potential insider trading by members of Congress have largely worked, but recent events suggest more needs to be done.

As we have seen from recent press reports, this is not just a theoretical question, as it appears that certain members of Congress sold stock after attending a series of confidential congressional briefings around the threat of the novel coronavirus beginning in late January,

Members of Congress should be banned from owning individual stocks altogether, and the sharing of "political intelligence" with outsiders should have to be disclosed, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told VICE News.

Last week the campaign of Republican governor candidate and Attorney General Tim Fox claimed in an email that one of his primary opponents, U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, is financing his

In the frenzy of initial media reporting in March, Senators Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler, Dianne Feinstein, and Jim Inhofe were often grouped together in allegations of insider trading regarding the coronavirus-induced stock market tailspin.

US equity futures fell sharply after trading commenced at 6 p.m. ET. S&P 500 futures slid more than 4% within five minutes, triggering a

Trading laws are under scrutiny following revelations that lawmakers may traded on insider information to immunize their assets from coronavirus' financial fallout.

Two different laws could criminalize trading activity by senators and congressional staff. But proving a violation and convicting them is not likely.

The truth is, people with insider knowledge about the market often use that information to enrich themselves through insider buying or selling. But most of the time, if this trading is done legally, there's actually a way that you can track their behavior.

Unique among those caught up in this coronavirus-related controversy, the North Carolina Republican is in significant legal danger.