Hegseth attempted to make large investments in defense companies before Iran War
7 hours ago
- #Conflict of Interest
- #Defense Investments
- #Iran War Timing
- U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February about a multimillion-dollar investment in the Defense Industrials Active ETF (IDEF).
- The IDEF fund focuses on defense and security companies benefiting from increased government spending, with major holdings like RTX, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Palantir.
- The outreach occurred weeks before the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, a war Hegseth helped architect and publicly advocated for within the Trump administration.
- BlackRock flagged the inquiry due to Hegseth's high-profile status, but the investment did not proceed as the ETF was not yet available on Morgan Stanley's platform.
- The timing has sparked scrutiny on Wall Street, raising questions about advance knowledge of the impending military action, given Hegseth's role and the defense sector's potential gains.