Congressional Democrats Seek Ethics Probe of Lutnick’s Data Center Advocacy
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led a group of 27 congressional Democrats in urging the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General on Dec. 17 to investigate whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has engaged in a conflict of interest by advocating for AI data center projects that reportedly benefit his family business, financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
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In a letter to acting Inspector General Duane Townsend, the lawmakers cited reports that Lutnick pushed the United Arab Emirates to build data centers in the U.S. in exchange for the easing of American export controls on certain advanced chips. Under the deal, which the Trump administration approved, a Cantor-owned company stands to profit from the UAE’s investment, the letter said. Cantor, which Lutnick used to own and lead, is now controlled by his sons.
The lawmakers also wrote that Lutnick reportedly pushed South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. and that a startup vying for some of that investment paid the Lutnick family’s companies millions in fees to help it secure financing and land for a new data center.
A Commerce spokesperson said the department "has received the letter and will respond through the appropriate channels."