As political battles loom over whether to crack down on Wall Street’s tax breaks and predatory behavior, the wealthiest members of Congress from both parties — including Republican vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance — now have tens of millions of dollars collectively invested in private equity funds.
The quantity and scope of these private equity investments are growing, even as some of these same lawmakers launch bipartisan probes into the industry and Democrats warn the funds “threaten U.S. health care and block Americans from economic success.”
In many cases, these lawmakers — several of whom have recently received hefty private equity political donations — don’t have to disclose much about these investments. The secrecy makes it difficult to discern whether these financial dealings could pose a conflict of interest.
According to a review of recent congressional financial disclosures by the Lever, ten United States senators and sixteen representatives together have more than $150 million invested in private equity, an opaque, predatory industry that critics warn is pillaging everything from health care to housing to Minor League Baseball. Private equity firms invest in companies that aren’t publicly traded on the stock market, which limits transparency around the acquisitions.
Because these disclosures list only an estimated range of value for each reported asset (with some parameters as broad as “between $1 million and $5 million”), this figure is almost certainly a significant undercount.
Some of these same lawmakers are in turn beneficiaries of the private equity industry’s current spending spree in the lead-up to the November elections. Threatened by the willingness of some members of Congress —…
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Auteur: Katya Schwenk
