Elizabeth Warren attacks Kevin Warsh over financial disclosures

Kevin Warsh’s newly released financial disclosures shed light on the Federal Reserve chair nominee’s vast wealth, but also raise questions about parts of his holdings that aren’t fully revealed in the paperwork. That could be a challenge for Warsh as he seeks to overcome a legacy of ethics scandals under the current chair, Jerome Powell.

Warsh in filings to the Senate Tuesday disclosed owning assets worth roughly $135 million to $226 million. That is in addition to what Forbes estimates as a $1.9 billion fortune held by his wife, Jane Lauder, granddaughter of the cosmetics founder Estée Lauder.

But Warsh’s disclosures don’t reveal everything about his wealth. For one, the forms ask only for reporting values in broad ranges, making precise calculations of his wealth impossible. Two individual assets are each listed as simply being worth over $50 million. Their worth could be just above that threshold, or far higher. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., called attention Thursday to that pair of holdings, both in a a financial vehicle called Juggernaut Fund. Warsh in his filings describes them as connected to Duquesne Family Office, the financial firm run by investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Warsh has worked there since leaving the Fed more than 15 years ago.

But that is the extent of the information Warsh gives about a slice of assets that appears to make up the bulk of his personal wealth. In the filings, Warsh declines to say what is actually in the Juggernaut holdings, as well as a few other, smaller funds, because he is bound by “pre-existing confidentiality agreements.”

“Not telling about $100-million plus of assets means that it’s just not possible to understand about his entanglements,” Warren told reporters Thursday at the Capitol.

Warsh “is the first Fed nominee not to be in compliance with ethics rules, and the first Trump nominee in this term, not to be in compliance with ethics rules,” Warren said.

It wasn’t possible to determine whether Warsh truly was the first such nominee, but a note from a government ethics official on his filings says Warsh is at the moment out of compliance with ethics rules for the holdings where he didn’t disclose the funds’ underlying holdings.

Warsh has pledged to divest those assets within 90 days of being confirmed. And once he does, the ethics official notes, Warsh will be back in compliance with ethics rules.

The Office of Government Ethics declined to comment, saying it doesn’t discuss individuals’ filings.

Warsh declined to comment. He met with Warren earlier Thursday. 

Financial disclosures have become a sensitive issue for the Fed, which Powell has chaired since 2018. It in 2022 banned senior officials from owning individual stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and some other assets. That followed a controversy in which some officials came under scrutiny for some of their trades. 

Fed governor Adriana Kugler left her position last year after Powell declined to sign off on a waiver to a disclosure form that showed she had some impermissible holdings. That opening was filled by former Trump administration economist Stephen Miran. 

Warsh would take Miran’s seat if confirmed by the Senate. A hearing on his nomination is scheduled for Tuesday.