Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday filed documents showing that his wife invested in Gilead Sciences, which makes antiviral drugs, shortly before COVID-19 was classified a pandemic, per the Washington Post.

Why it matters: Paul, who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19, missed the filing deadline for such disclosures by 16 months, saying he did not know about the investment at the time.

Driving the news: Paul filed documents with the Senate on Wednesday showing that his wife, Kelley Paul, had bought stock in Gilead, which manufactures remdesivir, on Feb. 26, 2020.

• Per the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, an anti-insider trading law, Paul faced a deadline of 45 days after the time of purchase.
• A spokesperson for Paul said the senator only recently learned about his wife's stock purchase and filed a supplemental report about it along with his annual disclosure.
• Kelley Paul lost money on the investment, the spokesperson added, per the Post.

Go deeper:YouTube suspends Rand Paul for one week over mask effectiveness claims