An investor in Wyndham Hotel stock has sued Sen. Richard Burr in federal court, alleging the North Carolina Republican used inside information he learned as chairman of the Senate’s intelligence committee — and which other investors could not have known — to sell off his shares before they plummeted in value amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Senator Burr owed a duty to Congress, the United States government, and citizens of the United States, including Plaintiff, not to use material nonpublic information that he learned by virtue of his duties as a United States Senator in connection with the sale or purchase of any security,” the lawsuit says. “Senator Burr breached that duty by selling stock, including Wyndham stock, based on that material nonpublic information.”

The senior Republican faced intense backlash last week after news reports revealed he sold up to $1.7 million in stocks — many of them in key industries later crippled by the fallout from novel coronavirus — on Feb. 13, before the markets began to tumble.

Read more at ABC News.