Trump’s pick for Fed chair could be the richest in modern times

Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to become the next Federal Reserve chairman, would probably be the wealthiest central bank leader in recent decades if confirmed, newly released financial disclosures show.

The 69-page filing, published Tuesday by the Office of Government Ethics, details a fortune well in excess of $100 million, along with stakes in dozens of start-ups and tech firms such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Warsh’s wife, Estée Lauder heiress Jane Lauder, owns assets of her own that add millions to the household’s financial picture.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected to hold a hearing next week on Warsh’s nomination, but it is unclear how quickly he will advance out of the panel. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) is effectively blocking Fed nominees from advancing until a Justice Department probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell is closed. Sen. Tim Scott (R.-South Carolina) said Tuesday that he expected the probe to end in the coming weeks, which would remove a key impediment to Warsh replacing Powell on time.

Powell’s tenure as chair expires May 15.

Trump settled on Warsh after a months-long, “Apprentice”-style process, in late January. Warsh is a former Morgan Stanley banker who later served as a Fed governor, acting as a liaison between the central bank and Wall Street during the 2008 financial crisis. His father, Ronald Lauder, is a major Republican donor.

In addition to revealing a range of financial connections to Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the filing show that Warsh received $10.2 million from billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller’s family office, Duquesne, where Warsh works as an adviser. He also holds more than $100 million in the Juggernaut Fund, a private Duquesne investment vehicle whose underlying assets were not disclosed because of confidentiality agreements — and which he has pledged to divest if confirmed.

Because Warsh’s holdings are reported only in broad ranges, his precise net worth is impossible to determine from the forms. But his wealth probably far exceeds that of Powell, whose financial disclosure listed his net worth at between $19.7 million and $55 million when he was nominated as Fed chair in 2017. Powell’s immediate predecessors did not have vast fortunes, though early Fed chairmen did, adjusting for inflation.

While many of Trump’s Cabinet choices are rich, Warsh is unlikely to be the wealthiest official in the president’s orbit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a financier and former protégé of Druckenmiller, disclosed assets worth at least $500 million before joining the administration last year.

The filing shows Warsh has committed to selling certain investments if the Senate confirms him, and a government ethics official has certified that those divestitures would bring him into compliance with federal ethics requirements.

Warsh’s disclosures include significant fees for consulting work in the financial sector: $1.55 million from the hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management, $750,000 from Cerberus Capital Management and $650,000 from Heitman, a real estate investment firm.

He also collected fees from several financial institutions, including $750,000 from the hedge fund Brevan Howard for three apparent speaking appearances and $135,000 from State Street — one of the largest U.S. banks and an institution directly regulated by the Fed.

He received $135,000 from the Pension Real Estate Association and speaking fees from Warburg Pincus, Centerview Partners and other financial firms.

Warsh, 56, also holds what appear to be dozens of stakes in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence ventures, many without a stated value. They include positions in Cafe X, described as a “robotic coffee bar platform,” and Polychain, a crypto investment firm. The SpaceX holding is similarly listed without a valuation.

Warsh sits on the board of United Parcel Service, one of the country’s largest employers, and holds between $2 million and $10 million in UPS securities.

Perhaps the most opaque entry in Warsh’s filing is his stake in the Juggernaut Fund. The fund appears twice in the filing. Warsh reported direct holdings in one case and in another case through his personal advisory company, Vicarage Corp. Each position is valued at more than $50 million, suggesting a total exposure of more than $100 million. Warsh said he would divest the holdings if confirmed.

The disclosures also show holdings of dozens of municipal securities, generally held by Warsh’s wife, as well as between $5 million and $25 million of undeveloped land she owns in Suffolk County, New York.

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