Trump’s billionaires will have to navigate a complex web of possible conflicts of interest

• Donald Trump has more billionaires in his orbit than any other modern president.
• It’s not just Elon Musk who faces potential conflicts of interest with newfound power.
• Even some of Trump’s lower-level picks are uber-wealthy.

President-elect Donald Trump is stocking his administration and broader orbit with billionaires and titans of industry.

Their résumés and portfolios also come with a bevy of potential conflicts of interest that could overshadow their actual jobs.

Elon Musk may receive the lion’s share of the attention, but he’s far from the only billionaire in Trump’s orbit who has benefited from government contracts.

“This Trump administration is just chocked full of billionaires, millionaires, and lobbyists,” Craig Holman, a lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen, recently told Business Insider.

Trump tapped private equity billionaire Stephen Feinberg to become his second-highest-ranking official at the Pentagon. Feinberg’s firm, Cerberus Capital Management, has significant interests in military defense contractors, which, as deputy director of defense, could pose a conflict given that the Pentagon’s No. 2 is typically responsible for the Defense Department’s massive budget.

Earlier this year, Cerberus acquired a controlling interest in M1 Support Services, an aircraft maintenance contractor. In fiscal year 2024 alone, M1 has been awarded over $630.7 million in federal contracts, according to USASpending.gov contract data. Cerberus also has a large stake in Navistar Defense, a specialized military vehicle manufacturer. In 2021, Navistar paid a $50 million fine to resolve a complaint that accused the company of inflating the prices of mine-resistant vehicles it sold to the US Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012, before Feinberg’s firm bought a 70% stake in 2018.

Musk has an even wider portfolio of responsibilities. Unlike Feinberg, the Tesla CEO is set to remain outside the Trump administration — meaning the world’s richest man would not be subject to the potential divestment full-time administration officials may be asked to do.

“He definitely has a vision for humanity and he views himself as a world historic figure, and he knows his wealth is necessary to fulfilling his vision,” Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, told Business Insider earlier this month. “So I am frightened by what government by people like that looks like.”

All of Trump’s appointees who enter the government will have to comply with the criminal conflict of interest law. Congress did not apply that law to the president or vice president, in part due to constitutional concerns.

Congressional Democrats have raised concern about Musk’s ties to China. He called for the expulsion of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, after she and other liberal lawmakers questioned whether Musk helped kill a sweeping government funding bill due to its inclusion of restrictions on certain US investments in China.

Trump told Time Magazine that he’s seen Musk put the country ahead of his financial interests.

“I think he’s one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I’ve seen it, before he puts his company,” Trump said.

In response to questions about potential conflicts of interest, Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson, said in a statement to Business Insider “All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies and offices.”

Divestment can be difficult to navigate. In 2017, Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola, a billionaire, withdrew from consideration to become Trump’s first Army secretary. According to The New York Times, Viola had too much difficulty untangling his financial interests.

Others have been able to broker deals allowing them to cash out early. Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson had to work out a special $180 million retirement package with the oil giant because some of his holdings included restricted shares that hadn’t been fully vested. Goldman Sachs accelerated its payout to Gary Cohn, who left the firm to become Trump’s chief economic advisor, leaving him with a roughly $285 million exit package. In order to entice talent out of the private sector, the government also allows officials to defer some tax liabilities when they are directed to sell shares or other assets. Tillerson and Cohn both used this perk. So too has current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Government watchdogs have long expressed unease about top officials entering the government with private-sector ties.

Biden advisors’ ties to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, were the subject of significant attention during the 2020 transition. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo was once interim chief of staff to Larry Fink. Brian Deese, who was Biden’s top economic aide, led BlackRock’s sustainable investing before joining the Biden administration. Adeyemo agreed to recuse himself from any potential BlackRock-related business until he sold off his interests. As a political appointee, Deese’s ethics agreement is not public information, though ethics-focused groups previously asked the White House to disclose it. (The White House did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment about Deese’s agreement. He left the administration last year.)

It remains to be seen whether the president-elect will impose additional ethics requirements as he did shortly after taking office in 2017. Trump’s first cabinet was the wealthiest in modern history. His incoming team is likely to be even richer.

The influx of billionaires extends from the cabinet down through US ambassadors. So far, Trump’s tapped at least two additional billionaires to represent the US abroad, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and investment banker Warren Stephens, to be US ambassadors. And that list doesn’t even include the likes of Musk, who has Trump’s attention without the hassle of selling off his vast interests.

“He is going to have the ear of President Trump anyway, even though he’s serving in an advisory capacity,” Holman said of Musk.