New Secretary of the United States Treasury, Janet Yellen, has received at least $ 7 million (£ 5.1 million) in the past two years for speaking engagements with government-regulated banks, advisory firms and hedge funds, according to newly released documents.
The former Federal Reserve chairman released a list of more than 50 paid speaking engagements for financial firms, including $ 67,500 from Goldman Sachs, $ 54,000 from an event at Barclays and $ 292,500 from a single speech to hedge fund Citadel.
The documents were submitted to the US Office for Government Ethics as part of Yellen’s efforts to secure the top role in the US Treasury. Although she’s already been elected to the post by President-elect Joe Biden, she still has to get formal approval from the United States Senate.
The filings revealed that Yellen also made $ 112,500 from a single speaking engagement with UBS, $ 225,000 from a speech to PwC and $ 270,000 from an event with London-based bank Standard Chartered.
It is common for high-profile government officials such as Yellen to take on paid speaking roles after retirement. Ben Bernanke, who chaired the US Federal Reserve before Yellen, reportedly made about $ 250,000 for a single speech after leaving the central bank, making $ 199,700 a year.
However, Yellen – who made just over $ 200,000 a year between 2014 and 2018 when she headed the U.S. Fed – said she would receive official clearance before participating in decisions involving companies that had paid her fees once she was formally appointed to the treasury. .
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Yellen also pledged to step down from Australian investment firm Magellan Financial Group, from which she has earned $ 125,000 as a consultant and approximately $ 225,000 in speaking fees. She pledged to give up assets of 13 companies, including the telecom giant AT&T, pharmaceutical company Pfizer and chemical company Dupont to avoid conflicts of interest.
Similar documents from current Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs director and financier of Hollywood films, prior to his 2017 appointment revealed no significant speaking fees.
However, Mnuchin pledged to divest at least $ 94 million in investments in 43 companies once he was appointed to Donald Trump’s cabinet. He was later criticized for failing to properly disclose that he owned nearly $ 100 million in real estate and was a director of an offshore company car in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.