Billionaire Commerce Nominee Howard Lutnick Simply Too Conflicted to Confirm

Tonight the Senate will hold a final confirmation vote on perhaps the most conflicted Trump cabinet nominee to date, Howard Lutnick. The billionaire nominated to lead the U.S. Commerce Department holds massive interests in cryptocurrency, computer chipmaker Nvidia, and the satellite industry – presenting unavoidable conflicts of interest with the sprawling Department’s oversight, rules, and research of each of these industries. While Lutnick has claimed he would divest from his multi-billion-dollar empire if confirmed, he made no such pledge for his children, who apparently will continue to run it.

“Any vote for the latest billionaire that won’t look out for working families vying to join the Trump cabinet is a vote to create a perfect storm for corruption and self-dealing that will do no favors for everyday American consumers and small businesses. Howard Lutnick has no business overseeing Commerce rules and research involving major industries that his family’s company is deeply invested in – he’s simply too conflicted to confirm. The Senate has an opportunity to send a message that the Trump administration has already exceeded its limit on super-wealthy Wall Street insiders that have no interest in helping working people get ahead,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk.

A VOTE FOR LUTNICK IS A VOTE FOR:

Potential Conflict Of Interest Between Lutnick’s Chinese Business Interests And Commerce Department Role Protecting U.S. Trade:

• Lutnick has developed a reputation as a “China hawk” and gave “full-throated support” for President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs, including a 60% tariff on goods imported from China, arguing they help protect American industries from foreign competition. Following reports that the President-elect could narrow these tariffs to certain sectors, President-elect Trump doubled down and denied that he was considering “pared-back tariffs,” although universal tariffs could spur “price shocks” and further inflation. Despite Lutnick’s rhetoric and despite the fact that he will lead offices that will be “the tip of the spear in the U.S.-China trade war,” Lutnick’s firms have “profited from ties to China.” This includes financial services company BGC Group, which has “a joint venture in Beijing with Chinese-state owned China Credit Trust” and his firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which has “helped take Chinese firms public” in the U.S. Although Lutnick has claimed that he will divest from these companies and resign from his roles leading them, he remains deeply “entwined” with Cantor Fitzgerald. Dozens of current and former employees and associates told Bloomberg that Lutnick’s “knot of conflicts is unlikely to loosen easily” and his grip on his businesses is “bolted tight.” On top of this, Lutnick appear poised to keep the business close in his family, with his 26-year-old son being listed as the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald’s latest blank-check company in December 2024.

Potential Conflict Of Interest Between Lutnick’s Interests In Chipmaker Nvidia And Commerce Department Enforcement Of Trade Restrictions Against China:

• In Lutnick’s most recent quarterly filing, his firm Cantor Fitzgerald reported almost $1.2 billion in holdings connected to chipmaker Nvidia, which was Cantor’s second-biggest holding at the time. This investment poses a stark conflict of interest to Lutnick’s potential role leading the Department of Commerce, which is central to enforcing trade restrictions against China and other U.S. competitors.
  
  In January 2025, the Biden Commerce Department unveiled “unprecedented new export controls” on computer chips and other technology in order to slow China’s development of artificial intelligence capabilities. An Nvidia executive directly criticized the policy as an “‘extreme ‘country cap,’” referring to the Commerce Department’s new quotas on sales of AI technology to various countries through which China may circumvent the Biden administration’s existing trade restrictions on advanced chips. Nvidia has also spent at least $240,000 while directly lobbying the Department of Commerce and other federal policymakers on chip trade policy in the first three quarters of 2024 alone.

Potential Conflict Of Interest Between Lutnick’s Cryptocurrency Interests And Commerce Department Oversight Of Crypto-Related Issues:

• Lutnick developed a reputation as a vocal advocate of cryptocurrencies including telling an industry conference that bitcoin, the leading form of crypto, should be traded all over the world “‘without exception and without limitation.” Lutnick has also been called a “key ally” of massive crypto firm Tether, in which his firm Cantor Fitzgerald holds about $600 million and with which Cantor was developing a new $2 billion lending project in November 2024.
  
  Lutnick’s financial interests in cryptocurrency pose a variety of conflicts with his potential role leading the Department of Commerce, which has a significant role in crypto policymaking and in researching crypto technologies.
  
  In 2022, President Biden issued an executive order on digital assets instructing the Secretary of Commerce to establish a framework for “‘enhancing United States competitiveness in, and leveraging of, digital asset technologies.’” President Trump has since replaced this order with a new one directing relevant departments and agencies to recommend digital asset policies that should be “rescinded or modified.”
  
  Additionally, the Commerce department has had a role in crypto policymaking, previously issuing a report on “Responsible Advancement Of U.S. Competitiveness In Digital Assets,” with Secretary Gina Raimondo calling for “‘effective regulatory approaches’” to crypto technologies. Additionally, the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has multiple advanced projects researching blockchain, the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies.

Potential Conflict Of Interest Between Lutnick’s Satellite Industry Interests And Commerce Department’s Oversight Of Commercial Space Policy:

• The Department of Commerce controls the Office of Space Commerce (OSC), which sets space commerce policy, and the department has various responsibilities that affect the satellite and commercial space industry.
  
  Lutnick and various Cantor Fitzgerald entities were shown to hold about 78 million shares, valued at about $80 million, in space imaging company Satellogic in a November 2024 filing. Cantor Fitzgerald also sponsored Satellogic’s $1.1 billion public launch in 2021, with Lutnick calling the company “‘uniquely positioned to dominate the earth observation industry.’” Although Lutnick resigned from Satellogic’s board following his nomination to be Secretary of Commerce, it does not appear that Cantor has disclosed divesting these shares in Satellogic.
  
  Notably, Satellogic began relocating to the U.S. just last year in order to compete for federal contracts after taking a $30 million strategic investment from massive cryptocurrency firm Tether, in which his firm Cantor Fitzgerald holds about $600 million, which was developing a multi-billion dollar deal with Cantor in November 2024, and for which Lutnick’s son has been an employee.
  
  Lutnick is also “close” to Elon Musk, whose SpaceX and Starlink businesses have direct interests in the Commerce Department’s commercial space policies. SpaceX has made regulatory comments to at least three major Commerce Dept. offices.