Trump Treasury selects Bessent to divest assets to avoid conflict. From Reuters
(Reuters) – Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s investor choice as his Treasury secretary, will withdraw from his Key Square Group hedge fund and other investments, a letter to the Treasury Department’s ethics office said.
Bessent outlined the steps he would take to “avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest if I were confirmed for the position of Treasury Secretary,” the letter said.
The asset manager whom Trump appointed as top U.S. economic policymaker on Nov. 23 said he would step down from his post at the Bessent-Freeman Family Foundation.
He also plans to close Key Square Capital Management, the investment firm he founded New York Times (NYSE:), which first reported Bessent’s divestitures.
Reuters reported in November that Key Square could be dissolved, sold or put into “quiet mode” if Bessent took a job in the new administration.
A spokesman for Bessent declined to comment.
On Friday, Trump reiterated the financial deal he made during his first term, handing day-to-day management of his multibillion-dollar real estate, hotel, golf, media and licensing portfolio to his children as he moved into the White House.
