Mnuchin’s TikTok interest echoes past deals
His critics raise ethics concerns
NEW YORK — It seems like a bizarre mishmash: A former Trump cabinet official is saying he wants to buy TikTok just days after leading a group that pumped $1 billion into a beaten-down bank. But it all actually fits in with the complicated career of Steven Mnuchin.
The man who served as former President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary is well connected in the world of finance, after all. From 1985 to 2002, he worked at Goldman Sachs, one of the most storied — and criticized — investment banks on Wall Street.
Mr. Mnuchin also has a history in media and entertainment. Among his Hollywood credits are “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Lego Movie,” where he was one of the executive producers. Think of them as much biggerbudget versions of TikTok videos.
And Mr. Mnuchin certainly has experience taking risks with troubled institutions. He famously swooped in to turn around the struggling IndyMac bank after its failure in the financial crisis of 2008.
But for critics, Mr. Mnuchin’s dealmaking also raises concerns about ethics. Robert Weissman, president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, points to TikTok in particular, where the U.S. government may force its Chinese owners to sell. Imagine something similar happening in another country, where its former finance minister ended up as the buyer, he said.
“When you’re at the top of the financial policymaking hierarchy, you don’t jump from that to figure out how you can help yourself,” Mr. Weissman said.
Other former Treasury secretaries have gone to Wall Street after their terms ended, including Robert Rubin, a Goldman Sachs executive who served under President Bill Clinton. In all cases, the move carries the appearance of cashing in on their time in government, Mr. Weissman said.
Mr. Mnuchin, who couldn’t be reached for comment through a request via his private-equity firm, has often generated controversy as he has generated cash.
After leaving the Treasury Department in January 2021, he launched his private-equity fund, Liberty Strategic Capital, which raised $2.5 billion by that September, according to news reports.
Much of that money was from government-controlled investment funds in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states, which Mr. Mnuchin had frequently visited as Treasury secretary. He was in the Middle East just weeks before leaving office, cutting the trip short after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The rapid shift from his government travel overseas to business dealings in those same countries prompted a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to call for a oneyear ban on senior government officials doing business overseas after leaving office.
Earlier this month, Mr. Mnuchin jumped back into the headlines when his PE firm led a roughly $1 billion investment in embattled New York Community Bancorp.
NYCB was looking for a lifeline, and its stock had at one point plunged more than 80% from the start of the year. The bank is struggling with falling values for investments tied to commercial real estate and the growing pains associated with some of its past acquisitions.
On Thursday, Mr. Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC that he had spoken with “a bunch of people” about creating an investor group to buy TikTok.