Fed nominee Warsh’s financial disclosures point to well over $100 million in assets

By Howard Schneider and Michael S. Derby

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – Kevin Warsh, the former Federal Reserve governor chosen by President Donald Trump to lead the central bank, has submitted financial disclosures that suggest he holds assets worth well over $100 million.

While it is difficult to estimate net worth from U.S. government ethics forms because assets are valued in broad and sometimes open-ended categories, Warsh’s 69-page disclosure includes two investments worth more than $50 million each in the Juggernaut Fund LP and $10.2 million in consulting fees from the investment office of Wall Street giant Stanley Druckenmiller.

The document filed overnight with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics is complex and a required step to be confirmed by the Senate. The Juggernaut Fund investments, for example, come with the caveat that the underlying assets “are not disclosed due to pre-existing confidentiality agreements,” with a promise from Warsh that “I will divest this asset if confirmed.”

Federal Reserve ethics rules formalized in early 2022 sharply limit what Fed officials and their immediate families can hold and how they can manage their investments.

The large-scale investments are among a series of holdings, including around two dozen in THSDFS LLC, some individually worth as much as $5 million, where details were withheld and which Warsh also pledged to divest if confirmed.

OGE analyst Heather Jones, who signed off on Warsh’s document, noted those commitments in her review and said that “once the filer divests these assets, he will be in compliance” with the Ethics in Government Act.

The document lists dozens of other assets without stating the value, mostly focused, judging by the names, in artificial intelligence and crypto, among other sectors. 

Those holdings include Cafe X, described as a robotic coffee bar platform; a “bionic movement-enhancing wearable clothing” firm called Cionic; Blast, notated as “yield-generating Ethereum layer two,”; and Contraline, a “reversible male contraceptive solution.”

The holdings of Warsh’s spouse, Jane Lauder, whose family interests include the Estee Lauder cosmetics company and who Forbes estimates has a net worth of around $1.9 billion, were also included. Some of Lauder’s municipal bond holdings were valued simply at “over $1 million.”

Warsh’s liabilities appear comparatively limited, including a 2015 mortgage of up to $5 million from JP Morgan Chase at 2.75%, a revolving line of credit of up to $5 million from PNC Bank listed at a rate of around 6%, and capital commitments of $1,950,000 to THSDFS LLC, one of the interests he has promised to divest.

MOVING FORWARD

The filing of Warsh’s paperwork with the ethics office is a key step in his expected confirmation to succeed Fed chair Jerome Powell, whose leadership term ends in May, although the timing remains uncertain.

A spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee on Monday declined to comment about the committee’s plans for handling the nomination.

The potential Fed leader’s wealth, which appears to significantly exceed that of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, suggests a challenging vetting process for legislators. Warsh’s financial position also stands in sharp relief to that of most Americans and more closely aligns with the substantial wealth held by top Trump officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“Warsh is wealthy and well connected” and “the disclosure is a snapshot into how wealth and connections build greater wealth and connections,” said Kathryn Judge, a professor at Columbia Law School. 

She said when it comes to Warsh’s disclosures, “perhaps most striking were the many arrangements that were not fully disclosed because of pre-existing confidentiality agreements,” adding “when those disclosures leave questions unanswered, the Senate can and should use the hearings to get the information it needs to make that determination.” 

Committee rules require five business days’ notice to schedule a hearing once the needed paperwork is in hand. On Tuesday, Punchbowl reported Warsh’s confirmation hearing will be held on April 21.

Even once the hearing is scheduled, it is unclear how quickly Warsh could be confirmed by the full Senate.

A key Republican lawmaker has vowed to block confirmation until the conclusion of a Department of Justice investigation into Powell for his oversight of renovations to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. There is little indication of progress so far on that matter.

Though a federal judge quashed the DOJ’s subpoenas, finding the probe to be a thinly disguised effort to pressure Powell to lower interest rates or resign, the department has said it will appeal that decision.

Powell’s tenure as head of the Fed ends on May 15, and he has said he will continue to fill the role on a “pro tem” basis if Warsh is not confirmed and in place by that time.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider and Michael S. Derby; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Hugh Lawson)