WASHINGTON: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not divested certain assets as required under government ethics rules and needs to guard against conflicts of interests in policymaking, the Office of Government Ethics reported has said.
In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo dated Monday, OGE Deputy Compliance Director Dale Christopher wrote that Bessent “has failed to timely comply with certain terms of the ethics agreement he signed” before taking office in late January.
The ethics office said it told Treasury ethics officials to remind Bessent “that it is his personal responsibility to avoid taking any action that could create a real or apparent conflict of interest with regard to his holdings,“ the letter said.
Bessent, a key figure driving President Donald Trump's economic agenda from tariffs to tax cuts and deregulation, signed an ethics agreement in January that pledged to divest his Key Square Group hedge fund and other assets to avoid conflicts of interest. He was required to meet certain deadlines by April 28.
OGE said Bessent amended his ethics agreement on May 2 and June 5, but further amendments were necessary.
A U.S. Treasury spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
But in a subsequent letter to Crapo on Wednesday, Christopher said that Treasury ethics officials told OGE that Bessent was committed to completing the remaining asset divestitures by December 15, including farmland in North Dakota.
Christopher said the Treasury officials had explained that the assets “are illiquid and are not readily marketable.” Some assets also have restrictions on who can acquire them and Bessent has been working to divest them since January.
Bessent will continue to recuse himself from certain matters affecting the remaining assets, and Treasury’s ethics office has set up screening procedures to identify “potentially conflicting matters that would be seen by the Secretary,“ the letter said - REUTERS
