Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earned at least $5.1 million from assets worth at least $228 million in 2025, according to newly released financial disclosures covering his first year in public office.
Bessent on Tuesday reported nine bank accounts holding at least six figures, with three holding more than $50 million each. It also showed him with smaller stakes in a drug development company, Cambrian Biopharma Inc. He sold stakes in exchange-traded funds focused on Germany and Thailand.
The Treasury secretary also listed residential real estate in the Bahamas worth at least $5 million. His collection of art and antiques was also worth at least $5 million. A plot of undeveloped land in North Carolina was described as having an estimated value between $250,001 and $500,000.
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Since US financial disclosures require officials to list the value of their assets within broad ranges, with the highest set at over $50 million, they can underestimate a person's holdings. When he was nominated to lead Treasury, Bessent disclosed assets worth at least $521 million, though his portfolio was almost certainly worth more.
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The documents show that Bessent divested his interests in Key Square Group, the macro hedge fund he founded and led, after joining the Trump administration last year.
In that initial disclosure, Bessent listed nine assets in the highest range, all tied to his hedge fund. If he put the proceeds from divesting those funds into a smaller number of bank accounts, the disclosure could show a smaller net worth.
When incoming officials are required to divest assets to avoid conflicts of interest, they're eligible for an exemption from capital gains taxes if the proceeds of sales are invested in an approved asset - Treasury bills or a broad-based mutual fund - within 60 days of the sale.
Some of the assets Bessent was required to divest upon taking office were slower to offload. He had stakes in three funds that allowed him to withdraw no more than 25% of his holdings each quarter. He fully divested the last of those holdings by Sept. 2025, the disclosure shows.
The filing also shows Bessent paid a $200 fine related to an asset held by his spouse, John Freeman. An equity stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co., which could pose a conflict of interest, was inaccurately reported as a deposit account on his initial disclosure, according to the latest filing.
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Freeman's holding was divested as soon as the error was discovered in July 2025. Treasury's Inspector General concluded that Bessent didn't knowingly violate ethics laws, and the department's ethics officials agreed.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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