Icahn subpoenaed over role as a Trump adviser
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors over his former role advising President Trump on renewable fuel policy.
Investigators from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office recently contacted Icahn Enterprises seeking information pertaining to Icahn’s activities related to the Renewable Fuels Standard and Icahn’s role as an adviser to Trump, the company disclosed in a Nov. 3 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Icahn Enterprises said it was cooperating and providing documents in response to the subpoena. Prosecutors have “not made any claims or allegations against us or Mr. Icahn,” the company said.
The subpoena follows questions and criticism of Icahn’s former unofficial role advising Trump on regulatory issues. He stepped down from the role in August in what he characterized as a mutual decision with Trump.
In announcing his departure, Icahn wrote in a letter to Trump that he “never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest.”
Nonetheless, others questioned Icahn’s dual role in which the longtime Trump associate served as both an informal presidential adviser and as a major biofuel investor. He supported changes to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires gasoline and diesel fuel to be blended with biofuels such as ethanol.
A Bloomberg News report said Icahn had proposed restructuring of a U.S. biofuel program, a move that at least temporarily boosted the stock price of CVR Energy, a refinery company in which Icahn is the majority owner. Unless changes were made, the existing rule would put independent fuel refiners and small filling-station owners out of business, Icahn told Bloomberg.
“Icahn admitted that he has advocated for policy decisions that could be worth a great deal of money to him,” Norman Eisen, the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2009 to 2011, and Richard Painter, who held the same role from 2005 to 2007, wrote in a USA TODAY opinion column in March.
While offering no other information about the subpoena, the disclosure by Icahn Enterprises said it did not believe the inquiry would have a material impact on the business, its financial condition, operations results or cash flow.