Wendy Teramoto, the agency’s chief of staff, has maintained the investment in the wake of calls for an investigation.!
by Dan Alexander, Forbes, and Derek Kravitz, ProPublica
This story was co-published with Forbes.
The chief of staff for Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Wendy
Teramoto, still owns a stake in a shipping company tied to associates of
Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that her former role as a board member
for the same company prompted six Senate Democrats to request an
investigation into her apparent conflicts of interest last month.
“We have not been notified, nor are we aware, of a formal
investigation by the inspector general,” Commerce Department
spokesperson James Rockas said in a statement. “But we continue to
answer any questions that are raised by department ethics officials or
the inspector general.” The statement said that Teramoto has recused
herself from any matters relating to her investments. (The same senators
also requested an investigation of Ross, who initially retained an
estimated $3.4 million stake in the company, Navigator Holdings, but has
since sold it.)
As long as Teramoto hangs onto her own investments, she will likely
remain under scrutiny, especially since there is evidence that her
official actions are affecting the shipping industry, in which she is
heavily invested.
Teramoto previously worked for Ross at his private equity firm WL
Ross & Co. She invested in funds that held Navigator stock, as well
as owning shares directly, and also served on the board of the shipping
company from 2014 to July 2017. From 2014 to 2016, Navigator did $68
million worth of business with a Russian petrochemicals company named
Sibur. That company is partially owned by two billionaires in Putin’s
inner circle, Kirill Shamalov and Gennady Timchenko.
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