SEC Chair Nominee Clayton's Ethics Report Reveals Range of Possible Conflicts--Update
March 08 2017 - 3:28PM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Michaels
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission faces a range of possible
conflicts of interest due to the long list of banks and public
companies he has represented as one of Wall Street's top
lawyers.
Jay Clayton, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP whose
Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for March 23, has done
legal work for Ally Financial Inc., Barclays PLC, Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Tudor Investment Corp. and Pershing
Square LP, according to a federal ethics report made public
Wednesday.
Under SEC ethics rules, Mr. Clayton likely wouldn't be able to
participate in agency business -- such as enforcement cases -- that
directly involves his former clients. Even so, some Senate
Democrats are likely to aim sharp questions at him, probing his
ties to banks such as Goldman Sachs, where his wife, Gretchen
Butler Clayton, works as a financial adviser. Ms. Clayton plans to
resign if her husband is confirmed by the Senate, a person familiar
with the matter has said.
A coalition of liberal groups, including Public Citizen and Our
Revolution, has already launched an effort to oppose Mr. Clayton's
confirmation. Our Revolution was founded by former staffers and
volunteers for Sen. Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential
campaign.
A spokesman for Mr. Clayton declined to comment.
The report, which all nominees for Senate-confirmed jobs must
file with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, also reveals the
extent of the wealth Mr. Clayton has amassed over more than two
decades at Sullivan & Cromwell. He earned more than $7.6
million in the past year and could be paid as much as $1 million
more in partnership income if the Senate confirms him and he leaves
the law firm, according to the report.
Through investment funds available to Sullivan & Cromwell
partners, Mr. Clayton has exposure to various private-equity funds,
including ones managed by Warburg Pincus LLC, Bain Capital, J.C.
Flowers & Co. and TPG Capital. He plans to redeem his holdings
in those funds, which are valued between $215,001 and $550,000,
within 90 days of his Senate confirmation, the report states.
Federal financial disclosure forms only require officeholders to
report the value of their assets as a range.
The form doesn't reveal Mr. Clayton's wife's income, but says
she owns between $100,001 and $250,000 in restricted stock that was
awarded as past compensation.
Write to Dave Michaels at dave.michaels@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2017 15:13 ET (20:13 GMT)
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