Overview

• In an Aug. 11 letter to Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo, the Office of Government Ethics said Bessent failed to meet an April 28 deadline established in his January ethics agreement.
• OGE reminded him of his personal responsibility to avoid any action that could create a real or apparent conflict of interest with his retained holdings.
• Treasury ethics officials told OGE that the remaining assets are illiquid or carry acquisition restrictions, complicating efforts to divest them promptly.
• The largest outstanding holding is roughly $25 million of North Dakota farmland that is not publicly listed for sale and generates up to $1 million a year according to his disclosures.
• He will continue to recuse himself from matters affecting those assets, and Treasury’s ethics office has implemented screening procedures as he works toward the December 15 divestiture target.