John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, has disclosed millions of dollars in income from finance and energy firms along with his recently liquidated huge stock portfolio in his latest financial filing, according to a report.
Kerry, who currently works at the State Department, recently has disclosed he has received millions of dollars in income from financial and energy-related firms, according to his financial filing, which was obtained by Axios. Kerry recently liquidated a huge stock portfolio before becoming Biden’s special climate envoy, the report states.
As the envoy in charge of the United States’ energy and environmental policy, he has maintained a reasonably substantial amount of influence over these sectors. In his years between serving in the Obama and Biden administrations, Kerry “advised a number of firms in the space,” according to the report.
Kerry, who was former President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, is one of the wealthiest members of the Biden administration. Breitbart News previously reported on other Biden officials who served in the Obama White House and made millions of dollars when they returned to the private sector.
The State Department told Axios that Kerry “has divested assets that could pose a conflict of interest, and signed an ethics pledge barring him from participating in specific policymaking decisions that could affect his former clients and employers.”
Axios listed some of the Envoy’s “millions of dollars in salary” he received while being a consultant and honoraria, according to the records.
- He drew a $5 million salary from Bank of America. He was tapped as chairman of the bank’s global advisory council months after his tenure as Barack Obama’s second secretary of State.
- He landed $382,400 in speaking fees from entities including Deutsche Bank, Waste Management and Cornell University.
- Kerry also reported compensation “in excess of $5,000” for more than a dozen other speeches in 2019, including ones to Barclays, Zurich Insurance and the foundation run by Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk.
The report also indicated Kerry received “$125,000 in consulting fees from The Rise Fund,” which is one of the “entities in the energy and environment space” with which Kerry has reportedly done business. The Rise Fund is “an investment firm with a significant renewable energy portfolio.”
Additionally, Kerry was an “advisory board chairman for Climate Finance Partners,” which, Axios reported, “creates innovative and globally needed finance solutions that address climate change.” In addition to being the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Corporation president, the filings show Kerry received “more than $5,000 in compensation” for being an advisor to Ripplewood, reportedly run by one of Kerry’s friends, Tim Collins. The investment firm based in New York that is known for “leveraged buyouts.”
Moreover, Kerry’s stock portfolio was reportedly held through a trust which was affiliated with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. His wife is the heiress to the well-known Heinz food processing fortune. According to the report, he had liquidated between $4.2 and $15 million last month from his stock holdings.
There is a federal ethics rule that could allegedly let Kerry defer any capital gains taxes from the stock portfolio sales if the money is used to reinvest in assets that are permitted. Axios reported, “it was not immediately clear whether Kerry had done so or planned to.”
A spokesperson for the State Department told Axios: “The State Department’s Ethics Office reviewed Special Presidential Envoy Kerry’s assets and investments upon his appointment to identify holdings that could pose a significant risk of a conflict of interest.”
The spokesperson added, “Special Presidential Envoy Kerry agreed to divest the assets identified by the Ethics Office and has done so.”
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