Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright is following in former Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s personal finance footsteps.
Wright recently invested between $1.1 million and $5.25 million in a pair of obscure real estate investment vehicles that specialize in high-end commercial properties in San Francisco, according to a new disclosure document the Energy secretary filed with the Office of Government Ethics. Pelosi — who many Republicans have accused of conflicts of interest because of her husband’s frequent (and massive) stock and stock option trades — disclosed this year that Paul Pelosi put between $950,000 and $2 million in the same and similar vehicles.
Wright purchased up to $5 million worth of REOF XXVII LLC shares on May 30 and up to $250,000 in REOF XXV LLC shares on June 6, the document states. (Federal government officials are only required to disclose the value of such investments in broad ranges.)
This adds to between $1 million and $2 million worth of REOF investments in San Francisco and Mexico that Wright previously disclosed as owning as of early this year.
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The Department of Energy’s media office did not return requests for comment. Following publication of this article, Department of Energy spokesperson Ben Dietderich emailed a statement: “Secretary Wright remains compliant with all ethics and financial disclosure requirements. Part of that process included the divestment of assets and resignation of board positions that may appear to present a conflict of interest.”
Paul Pelosi put his money across five REOF investment vehicles, including one in which Wright invested this spring, according to congressional financial disclosures.
In a congressional disclosure, Nancy Pelosi described the buy as “acquiring and restoring a luxury hotel property in San Francisco.” Other REOF entities in which Paul Pelosi has invested have acquired hotel properties in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and Virginia.
President Donald Trump has previously called for an investigation into Nancy Pelosi for “making a fortune with her husband.”
Trump “doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month in tacitly supporting legislation pending in Congress that would ban or limit federal lawmakers — and potentially executive branch officials — from investing in individual stocks and certain other investment instruments.
Previously opposed to limitations on how public officials may personally invest their money, Pelosi in July said she’d be “proud to support” legislation that mandated “strong transparency, robust accountability and tough enforcement for financial conduct in office.” Pelosi has long maintained her government service in no way informs her husband’s financial decisions.
As for Wright, he signed an ethics agreement to “avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest” with his duties as Energy secretary. The agreement detailed a series of stock divestitures, business recusals and board resignations in order to comply with federal conflict of interest laws.
But Wright did not pledge to abstain from all but the most conservative personal investments, such as Treasury bonds and mutual funds, as underscored by his REOF real estate investments. And in March, the White House granted Wright a limited, temporary conflicts-of-interest waiver for some assets, according to a memo from White House counsel David A. Warrington.
Wright previously served as CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield and fracking company. His personal wealth is significant — stretching well into the tens of millions of dollars at minimum, and potentially into the nine-figure range, according to his latest financial disclosure.
“It’s ironic that Wright is following in the footsteps of Paul Pelosi,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for nonprofit government reform organization Public Citizen. “It’s not clear there’s a conflict of interest, but I worry any time any government official is making millions of dollars in personal investments.”
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This article has been updated to include a post-publication comment from the Department of Energy.
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