Lutnick Made $250 Million as Sons Took Over Cantor

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earned at least $250 million last year, mostly from his prior ownership of Cantor Fitzgerald, even as he handed the firm to his two sons and stepped down from hundreds of business roles, his annual ethics filing shows.

The 74-page filing, obtained by The Wall Street Journal through a document request, details how the longtime Cantor head unwound his business empire after joining President Trump's cabinet in February. Lutnick received at least $190 million in a distribution from Cantor before transferring his stake to family members. His two oldest sons now run the financial-services firm.

The disclosed value of Lutnick's assets fell to at least $237 million as of December, down from a minimum of $805 million in his prior report. Federal ethics filings report asset values in broad ranges, so the full value of his holdings is likely substantially higher. Between May and October, Lutnick sold assets worth at least $259 million and purchased stock-index and money-market funds worth at least $166 million, transactions largely disclosed in earlier routine filings.

The filing places Lutnick among several Trump cabinet members whose annual ethics disclosures have yet to appear on the Office of Government Ethics website. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also have filings pending at OGE. President Trump's own annual filing, released this summer, disclosed more than $2 billion in income, largely from crypto and real-estate ventures, along with more than 20,000 securities trades.

Though Lutnick stepped down from leadership roles at Cantor and hundreds of organizations last year, he remains the head of around 40 companies, mostly LLCs named for his trusts or individual properties. A Commerce Department spokesman had no immediate comment.

The disclosure highlights the limits of standard ethics divestment arrangements for wealthy cabinet officials. Lutnick's income from Cantor — the firm he led for more than three decades — flowed largely before he transferred his stake, yet his sons now control the firm while he oversees commerce policy. The arrangement raises questions about whether family-controlled business interests create conflicts that blind trusts and divestment agreements are designed to prevent.

The OGE's delay in posting Lutnick's filing, along with those of other cabinet members, adds a transparency dimension to the ethics debate. Federal ethics rules require annual public financial disclosures from senior executive branch officials, and the filings are meant to allow public scrutiny of potential conflicts. With several high-profile filings still unpublished months after the reporting deadline, oversight groups have pressed the agency for faster posting.

For markets, the disclosure carries little direct implication. Lutnick's divestment from Cantor and his reduced business footprint were widely expected when he joined the cabinet, and the filing confirms the mechanics of that transition. The more consequential question is whether the administration's ethics posture — including delayed OGE postings and family-controlled business structures — becomes a political liability that distracts from the Commerce Department's trade and industrial policy agenda.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.