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CPUd
01-08-2017, 09:57 PM
Pentagon pick Mattis discloses defense industry work


President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, retired Gen. James Mattis, is worth as much as $10 million, according to a financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics — a good chunk of it earned in the past three years from his work with defense giant General Dynamics and other companies.

Mattis’ financial disclosure, posted publicly on Sunday, shows he has between $3.5 million and $10 million, with much of the assets in mutual funds and bank accounts.

That also includes between $600,000 and $1.25 million in stock and options in General Dynamics, where he currently serves as a member of the board of directors.

The document, which is required as part of his confirmation process to join Trump's Cabinet, reflects a fairly typical trajectory for a retired general, with a mix of work for leading arms manufacturers, other private-sector ties, and nonprofit and academic pursuits.

Mattis’ worth also includes a significant amount of money he earned during his 44-year military career, such as his pension, and earnings from various other corporate boards and consulting and speaking fees since he retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.

For example, Mattis received consulting fees or honorariums from more than 20 businesses in the past year — including $20,000 from defense contractor Northrop Grumman, $20,000 from Goldman Sachs, and $25,000 from Citicorp.

According to the financial disclosure, Mattis received $242,000 as a General Dynamics board member and $150,000 for serving on the board of embattled biotech firm Theranos. He was also paid over $419,000 as a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

But his biggest post-career financial haul appears to have come from General Dynamics, the Pentagon's fourth-largest contractor, which builds everything from tanks to submarines and communications equipment.

Mattis sold off $12,000 of his $330,000 in GD stock last week, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He also has more than $570,000 in vested stock options with the defense contractor, SEC filings show.

And as part of a previously released ethics agreement, Mattis has agreed to divest his current stock and forfeit any unvested stock and options in the defense company once he is confirmed as Pentagon chief.

Once confirmed, Mattis also pledged to recuse himself for one year in matters involving General Dynamics and to resign from Hoover. He resigned from the Theranos position and from the board of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank, last month.

In addition, the new disclosure lists a deal reached with Random House Publishers for a book on leadership, though it doesn’t disclose the value. As part of his ethics agreement, Mattis pledged not to work on the book as secretary, and it won’t be published until he leaves office.

Mattis' confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. With his financial disclosure and ethics forms submitted, he sidesteps potential concerns Democrats have with other Cabinet picks who are having hearings this week before finalizing the paperwork.

OGE Director Walter Shaub wrote to Senate leaders Friday that the confirmation hearing schedule was of “great concern” to the nonpartisan office because it hadn’t had time to properly vet all of Trump's nominees beforehand.

In addition to Senate confirmation, Mattis will require the House and Senate to pass an exemption allowing him to serve as defense secretary. Federal law requires that military officers wait seven years before becoming the civilian head of the military, unless they receive a legislative waiver.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/james-mattis-defense-disclosures-233331

oyarde
01-08-2017, 10:04 PM
I made some money off General Dynamics .