Howard Lutnick making push for Treasury job, setting up battle with leading contender Bessent

Billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent was all but certain to be named Treasury secretary in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration Tuesday morning, but his appointment now hangs in the balance as another contender is making a last-ditch effort to land the job, FOX Business has learned.

The contender – CEO of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick – is said to be “campaigning hard” behind the scenes to get the coveted role over Bessent, stalling any announcement, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The proverbial tug of war between Bessent, 62, and Lutnick, 63, accelerated following Tuesday’s announcement of investor John Paulson’s exit from the candidate pool over the “complex financial obligations” involving his family office hedge fund, Paulson Capital, which manages his personal wealth that is said to be close to $4 billion. Bessent, meanwhile, runs investment firm Key Square Group, which he founded and had nearly $600 million in assets under management in 2023.

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Both Paulson, 68, and Bessent had been top contenders for the job given how much money they raised for Trump (more than $50 million combined) and their work as key economic advisers during the campaign. FOX Business reported earlier that Paulson’s path to the job was complicated by his stakes in Treasury-regulated mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that an incoming Trump administration might release from government control, thus benefiting the stocks.

Lutnick had been considered a dark horse for the Treasury job, one of the most important cabinet positions in any White House. The no-nonsense CEO is best known for helming Cantor during the 9/11 attacks where he lost his brother and more than 600 coworkers in the attacks on the north tower. Lutnick has been praised for his charitable work through Cantor Fitzgerald’s Relief Fund, which helps support families impacted by acts of terrorism, natural disasters and other emergencies.

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Lutnick, a long-time friend and frequent donor to Trump, is also taking a lead role in the former president’s transition team in selecting personnel for the administration. He would essentially be advising Trump – the ultimate decision maker in the process – to pick himself for the post.

People close to the matter say Lutnick has recently become adamant he should be chosen even as his efforts are being met with resistance by members of Trump’s inner circle who believe Bessent would be a better pick. His consideration is also facing opposition from Treasury officials who see Lutnick’s ties to crypto company Tether, which is currently under scrutiny by the department, as an issue during his Senate confirmation.

While Trump is close to the mercurial Lutnick, Bessent is said to have the edge between the two and an announcement could come at any moment, sources familiar with the transition say.

A spokesman for the transition team had no comment; Lutnick and Bessent had no comment.

Tether, an offshore stablecoin company that issues the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT, has been the target of a handful of U.S. lawsuits from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the New York attorney general for misleading investors about its stablecoin reserves and engaging in alleged market manipulation. A Wall Street Journal report last month suggested Tether may once again be in the crosshairs of law enforcement, this time the Justice and the Treasury departments for alleged sanctions violations. Tether has denied the allegations and says there’s no evidence that it’s under investigation.

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Cantor Fitzgerald serves as Tether’s “custodian,” meaning it oversees some of the firm’s assets including its $90 billion portfolio of U.S. Treasurys, which plays a key role in providing liquidity to its USDT stablecoin. Lutnick has publicly vouched for the financial stability and legitimacy of the company despite widespread skepticism and rampant criticism from the wider crypto industry.

Lutnick, of course, would be forced to resign from Cantor if he does get appointed Treasury secretary. But putting Lutnick in the top Treasury spot in the Trump administration would give him carte blanche in deciding which entities should be subject to sanctions under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the regulatory abode responsible for economic and trade sanctions. If he doesn’t recuse himself from the Tether matter, it would conceivably give him authority over ongoing investigations, meaning any current Tether probes would pass into the hands of a person who has an ongoing financial and personal interest in the company.

Meanwhile, many industry participants have expressed excitement at the prospect of the possible appointment of Bessent, who is favored among Trump’s top advisers to take over for outgoing Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Like Lutnick, Bessent is a proponent of cryptocurrency, telling FOX Business in an interview this summer that he’s excited about Trump’s embrace of digital assets, which represent freedom, and he believes the crypto economy is here to stay.