Trump Treasury pick defends offshore investments

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the US Treasury on Thursday fended off questions about previously undisclosed offshore investment firms and real-estate holdings, as well as his bank’s foreclosure practices. In his confirmation hearing, Wall Street banker and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin also defended his leadership of a bank accused of predatory lending and aggressive foreclosure practices.

Mnuchin conceded he had failed to disclose that he was the director of investment funds incorporated in Caribbean tax havens, or to reveal real estate holdings of about $100 million, when making financial disclosures to lawmakers in December.

“My lawyer, who is quite sophisticated in this stuff and has done this for many nominees before, believed that we filled out the form correctly,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. Mnuchin also said his investment firms in the Caribbean enclaves of Anguilla and the Cayman Islands were created to serve clients that were non-profits and pensions. “These entities were either taxed as US corporations or US partnerships and in no way did I use them whatsoever to avoid any US taxes.” Mnuchin also sought to explain Trump’s comment this week that the US dollar was “too strong,” which briefly caused the currency to plummet on foreign exchange markets.

“It was not meant to be a long-term comment,” Mnuchin said, adding that Trump meant the strength of the dollar in the short-term hurt US exports. Mnuchin likewise said Trump’s threats on Twitter to impose a “border tax” on manufacturers selling foreign-made cars on the US market did were targeted to specific companies. “He has not suggested an across-the-board border tax,” he said. — AFP