Pentagon No. 2's Personal Lawyer Handled Historic Minerals Deal
Top Pentagon Official Contracted Personal Lawyer to Handle Minerals Deal
The Department of Defense has invested over $2 billion in critical minerals companies to counter China's supply chain dominance. A new investigation reveals that Alan Waldenberg, a private equity lawyer who manages the personal trust of Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, also represented the DOD in its landmark $550 million deal with MP Materials. Waldenberg simultaneously serves as outside counsel to Feinberg's firm, Cerberus Capital, raising conflict-of-interest concerns. Ethics experts say Feinberg should have recused himself, while the DOD insists the arrangement complied with federal ethics laws.
“If he has a personal relationship with Feinberg, Feinberg shouldn’t be making a decision about whether he’s hired by DOD,” said Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.
- mandeepj
They are all in this with one and only one purpose - to enrich themselves and weaken America.
- josefritzishere
This is a strange and probably illegal use of the military.
- paxys
Why are people surprised? Trump promoted his personal lawyer to Attorney General. This is how the administration works.
- sgnelson
"Asked about the potential for conflicts of interest to arise due to his simultaneous role as attorney for Cerberus, Feinberg, and the DOD, he said “you’ve got to be kidding me” and insisted that the interests of the three clients have been kept separate."
Oof. This guy is a top lawyer, and this is how he responds to a journalist asking about conflict of interests?
Obviously a very smart man and very trustworthy. /s
We are truly living in a kleptocracy.
Edited: Two seconds of google: https://www.cerberus.com/media/cerberus-acquires-controlling... Yep, no possibility of conflicts of interest here.
I don't know what bothers me more, the corruption, or the fact that they're both so stupid and open about it.
- OrvalWintermute
There is nothing illegal about using a contractor lawyer for both commercial work and your own business provided you get it reviewed by Ethics & Govt General Counsel. As this was done then I see no issue in it.
There is a potential COI mentioned below, for which Feinberg agreed to donate the profits to charity, if such a settlement happens. The guy is from a Whiteshoe law firm anyways, the allocated funds are tiny, and this seems pretty above board.
Much ado about nothing!
> In a statement to the Prospect, the Department of Defense wrote that the arrangement was aboveboard. “OSC [DOD’s Office of Strategic Capital, which leads the Pentagon’s rare earths investments] maintains a rigorous, multi-layered ethics framework that includes a detailed screening process and operates in full compliance with all federal ethics laws and regulations,” the statement said. The DOD did not comment on whether Waldenberg is involved in other Pentagon activities, or specify its ethics protocols. Waldenberg’s firm, according to the federal government’s public contracting database, has a contract with the DOD worth $1.5 million that runs through August 31, 2026.
> The DOD has said that “any profit [Feinberg] may receive from a potential Ligado settlement will go to a charity to support America’s veterans,” though a spokesperson declined to say which charity would receive the prospective donation. The Capitol Forum recently reported that Ligado is hoping to receive $5 billion from the feds, citing […]