Inside the Financial Holdings of Billionaire Betsy DeVos

The following article by Ben Miller and Laura Jimenez was posted on the Center for American Progress website January 27, 2017:

AP/Carolyn Kaster
Secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos testifies at her confirmation hearing in Washington on January 17, 2017.

On Friday, January 20, 2017, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, or OGE, released the paperwork and pledge for President Donald Trump’s secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos. The 108-page document is rife with private equity and hedge fund investments that are opaque to the public.

Overall, DeVos’ paperwork showcases an extensive web of investments, several of which raise eyebrows. She has investments in companies that hound students to pay their federal loan debts, as well as in psychiatric hospitals under federal investigation for Medicare fraud. She also has more than $1 million in an undisclosed venture related to education. And although her filings do not show any direct ownership stake in a private for-profit college, she has chosen to put some of her money into firms that are invested in that industry. Continue reading “Inside the Financial Holdings of Billionaire Betsy DeVos”