Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Attorney General.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, recently disclosed his financial investments, and pledged to sell individual stocks that he owns after his confirmation.
Garland has substantial holdings in General Mills (ticker: GIS) and Procter & Gamble (PG) stock, and owns nominal amounts of Pfizer (PFE), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), J.M. Smucker (SJM), and Viatris (VRTS), according to a form he filed to the Office of Government Ethics. Garland has pledged to sell individual stocks within 90 days of his confirmation as attorney general. His stockholdings appear to be the most significant among recent Biden appointees.
Garland, who is still awaiting a confirmation hearing, didn’t respond to a request for comment made to his chambers in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Employees of the executive branch, which includes the attorney general, are prohibited from “participating personally and substantially in any particular matter in which the employee knows they have a financial interest directly and predictably affected by the matter, or in which they know that a person whose interests are imputed to them has a financial interest directly and predictably affected by the matter.”
In order to meet these guidelines, nominees for executive branch positions typically pledge to sell their holdings in individual stocks upon entering office. Other Biden nominees, including Janet Yellen, Lloyd Austin and Jennifer Granholm, picks for Secretaries of the Treasury, Department of Defense, and Energy Department, respectively, also pledged to sell stocks after confirmation. Yellen and Austin were confirmed in January.
A White House press official did not respond to a request for comment about the pledges.
William Barr, Donald Trump’s last confirmed attorney general, owned substantial amounts of AT&T (T) stock, along with other holdings, at the time of his confirmation hearings. He pledged to sell those shares within 90 days of his confirmation, and ultimately did.
According to the recent disclosure, Garland owns $250,000 to $500,000 of Procter & Gamble stock that provided dividend income of $50,000 to $100,000 in the last year, as well as $100,00 to $250,000 of General Mills stock. He also owns up to $50,000 worth of stock in both Pfizer and Bristol-Myers and up to $15,000 of Smucker. Specific figures aren’t required for disclosure, only ranges.
Garland plans to sell all of those stocks under his ethics agreement.
Garland has also pledged to sell his investment in Nuveen Maryland Quality Municipal Inc. Fund, now valued at $250,000 to $500,000. The fund is invested in Maryland municipal bonds.
Garland’s disclosure reports shows that his biggest investments are in index funds, real estate, and cash and cash equivalents, broad-based investments that are generally exempt from sales.
He owns $2.05 million to $11 million in S&P 500 index funds and other exchange-traded funds; $1 million to $5 million of that is owned through an individual retirement account. The index has handily beat each of the individual stocks owned by Garland over the latest 12 months.
Garland has another $1 million to $5 million invested in the Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX), whose returns in the latest 12 months have topped the rise in the S&P 500.
He disclosed the ownership through trusts of residential real estate in New York City valued at $1 million to $5 million, and residential real estate in Redding, Conn., valued at $500,000 to $1 million.
Garland has $1.2 million to $5.4 million invested in money-market accounts and $453,000 to $1.05 million in cash.
Garland was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals in April 1997. Before his appointment, Garland spent several years as a partner at law firm Arnold & Porter. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court but the nomination languished for 10 months and then expired because Republicans declined to give him a hearing.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin
"general" - Google News
February 05, 2021 at 12:47AM
https://ift.tt/3oRIy06
Merrick Garland Pledges to Sell Stocks After Confirmation as Attorney General - Barron's
"general" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YopsF9
https://ift.tt/3faOei7
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Merrick Garland Pledges to Sell Stocks After Confirmation as Attorney General - Barron's"
Post a Comment