Trump commerce pick’s firm to pay millions for federal law violations

13 December 2024

Howard Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, gestures as he speaks during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., October 27, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a top financial services firm led by President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become Secretary of Commerce with violating federal law, according to multiple reports.

Cantor Fitzgerald, led by its CEO and chairman Howard Lutnick, was charged by the SEC with “violating laws related to disclosures by so-called blank-check companies before they raise money from the public,” CNBC reports. “The SEC said that Cantor agreed to settle the case by saying the firm would not violate the relevant securities laws again and pay a $6.75 million civil penalty.”

Lutnick, a “major Republican donor, who donated millions to Trump’s campaign,” according to NPR, also serves as the co-chair of Trump’s presidential transition team. He was awarded that honor just two weeks after hosting a fundraiser for Trump at his home in the Hamptons that raised $15 million.

“Among the roughly 130 people who dined under an air-conditioned tent were some of Donald Trump’s wealthiest supporters, including the billionaire hedge-fund financier Bill Ackman, who sat next to the former president, and Omeed Malik, the president of another fund, 1789 Capital,” The New York Times reported in August.

Lutnick, a cryptocurrency supporter, was described as “pugnacious” by The Financial Times this week in an article titled, “The criminal’s ‘go-to cryptocurrency’ has a new friend in the White House.”

“Howard Lutnick has defended the stablecoin company which has been used by gangs and US adversaries,” FT reported, sharing how he “regaled an audience of crypto devotees in Nashville with tales of his early days exploring the world of digital currencies.”

“’I met every criminal who’s now in prison,’ the 63-year-old joked, referring to his encounters with various youthful crypto executives now serving lengthy jail sentences for fraud.”

CNBC also reports the settlement is similar to one affecting became a Trump-related business.

“Cantor’s settlement echoes an $18 million settlement another blank-check firm, Digital World Acquisition Corp., agreed to pay to the SEC in July 2023 after being charged with fraud for failing to disclose to investors that DWAC had extensive merger discussions with Trump’s then-private social media company, Trump Media. DWAC merged with Trump Media earlier this year.”

Before Election Day, Lutnick promoted the debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism, and suggested children who are vaccinated may not be “fine,” during a CNN interview (below). He also stated that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who some describe as an anti-vaxxer and has said there are no vaccines that are safe and effective—would not be Trump’s nominee to head Health and Human Services (HHS), a prediction that turned out to be wrong.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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