Carl Icahn steps down over ‘conflict of interest’
BILLIONAIRE investor Carl Icahn ended his role as a special adviser to US President Donald Trump on Friday after facing criticism that policy recommendations he offered could help his own investments.
Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates argued that Icahn’s guidance to the Republican administration created a conflict of interest with his businesses, including oil refining company CVR Energy Inc. Icahn has denied any conflict of interest.
Icahn’s departure followed a flurry of changes at the White House. Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, two days after disbanding two high-profile business advisory groups.
“I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration,” Icahn wrote in a letter to Trump released on his website.
The White House declined to comment. A call to Icahn’s office was not immediately returned.
The activist investor, who leads Icahn Enterprises LP , was an early and close ally of Trump who was often praised by the Republican for his business acumen. One of Icahn’s first tasks was to vet the future Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and a number of candidates met with the octogenarian investor in his Fifth Avenue office just a few blocks north of Trump Tower in Manhattan. While Icahn stopped managing money for clients years ago, he still has large stakes in companies like Herbalife Ltd, CVR and American International Group Inc, which have faced regulatory issues.
Icahn was so sure Trump’s election last year would give a boost to stocks that he left the campaign’s victory party to make a US$1 billion bet on the market, he told Reuters last year. The day after the election, stocks leapt.