Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren pressed Stanley Druckenmiller’s investment firm to free Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh from confidentiality agreements, seeking greater transparency into his investments before a Senate confirmation vote.

The move by Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, comes as Warsh remains on track to be confirmed by the Senate in the coming weeks. Financial disclosures submitted by Warsh last month disclosed assets with his wife Jane Lauder that total at least $192 million, though the actual figure for their holdings is certainly much higher.

In the disclosures, Warsh didn’t reveal the underlying assets of some investment funds he holds that are managed by Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office LLC. He cited a “preexisting confidentiality agreement” and promised to divest of those holdings.

In a letter Warren sent to Druckenmiller, the Massachusetts lawmaker requested that Duquesne, where Warsh has been an adviser, release Warsh from all confidentiality agreements and disclose details around any divestments. Warren highlighted two holdings in Duquesne’s Juggernaut Fund, each of which was valued at more than $50 million.

“Releasing Mr. Warsh from these confidentiality agreements would allow him to fully disclose the sources of his wealth to the public — allowing the US Senate to meaningfully examine his finances and potential conflicts of interest before the Senate votes on his nomination,” Warren wrote in the letter.

In his agreement with the Office of Government Ethics submitted with his disclosures as part of the Fed nomination process, Warsh promised to divest from a number of holdings and to resign from board positions and other roles, a pledge he repeated during his April confirmation hearing with lawmakers.

“I have come to full agreement with them, and have agreed to divest all of those assets,” Warsh said at the time, in response to questioning from Warren.

Warsh and Druckenmiller didn’t respond to requests for comment on Warren’s letter.

In the correspondence, Warren warned that the lack of disclosure around some of Warsh’s assets runs the risk of breaching the Fed’s internal rules on investing that apply to all Fed policymakers. Those rules were significantly tightened in 2022 after a series of embarrassing revelations of trading by Fed officials.

“The risk of a potential violation here is not hypothetical,” Warren wrote.

The updated rules prohibit officials from purchasing individual stocks, require them to obtain prior approval for purchases and sales of securities, and ban them from transactions during periods of heightened financial stress, among other measures. Policymakers are also prohibited from holding stakes in financial firms regulated by the central bank.

Warsh won the backing of the Senate Banking Committee on April 29 on a 13-11 party-line vote, putting him on track to be confirmed by the full Senate before Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends May 15.