Samantha Power low-balled Cayman Island investment by at least $1M, watchdog alleges

Biden administration official Samantha Power low-balled her stake in a Cayman Islands-based investment firm by at least $900,000 during her Senate confirmation process, a watchdog group alleged in a complaint.

The complaint, filed by the conservative American Accountability Foundation, called for the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether Power knowingly falsified the true value of her stake in a venture capital firm led by tech billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya. Power reported in her January financial disclosure statement that her stake in the firm was worth between $50,001 and $100,000, but five months later, in late June, she disclosed she had sold her stake in the firm for somewhere between $1 million and $5 million.

“Being as generous as possible, if the value of her initial filing in January 2021 was at the highest amount allowed by the range or $100,000; and the value a the sale in June 2021 was at the lowest range or $1,000,001, this is 10x the value of the asset than what was initially reported,” the AAF said in its complaint.

Power, who is now the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Obama administration.

The AAF noted in its complaint that the Senate’s ability to vet Power properly during her confirmation process could have been hampered if she reported false information about her finances. The group added that government officials who knowingly file false information on their financial disclosure reports could face civil fines up to $50,000 or criminal penalties of up to one year of imprisonment, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

“Administrator Power leads an agency which gives billions in taxpayer funds every year. It’s absolutely critical we have someone with the utmost integrity overseeing USAID and not someone who may have lied on public financial disclosure forms,” AAF Director Matthew Buckham told the Washington Examiner. “Lawmakers should immediately conduct an oversight investigation into whether Ms. Power violated federal law by knowingly undervaluing her financial interests by potentially millions of dollars.”

The Senate confirmed Power to lead the USAID in late April in a 68-26 vote.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reported holding a stake in the Cayman Islands-based Social+Capital Partnership GP III during his confirmation process, but he placed a significantly higher valuation on his investment compared to Power’s.

Blinken reported in his Dec. 15, 2020, financial disclosure statement that he held a profits interest of 0.35% in the firm, valued at between $250,001 and $500,000. One month later, on Jan. 16, 2021, Power reported holding a profits interest of 0.79% in the same firm, more than double the value of Blinken’s holding, but she valued her stake at between $50,001 and $100,000, less than half of Blinken’s reported valuation.

“Blinken’s financial disclosure of the same asset is a good example showing how Power may have significantly undervalued her investment,” Buckham said.

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Both Blinken and Power said in their financial disclosures they received their stakes in Social+Capital Partnership GP III in 2017 after signing on to be advisers for Social+Capital Partnership, a related investment firm.

A Biden spokesperson told The Intercept in January that Blinken provided Social+Capital “with broad geopolitical advice on longer-term investments focused on solving hard problems like curing cancer and space exploration. He did not take part in the firm’s day-to-day operations, fundraising, or investment decisions.”

Chelsea Clinton’s husband Marc Mezvinsky also served as the vice chairman of Social+Capital for a brief period of time beginning in 2017. Mezvinsky joined the company to help it expand into a more broad financial management firm, but he left in June 2018 after those plans were scrapped, Axios reported.

Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive, founded Social+Capital in 2011 as an early-stage venture capital firm. The firm is known for its early investments in the technology companies Box, SurveyMonkey, Yammer, and Slack.

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Power played a key role in the “unmasking” scandal during the final months of the Obama administration. As Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, Power attempted to unmask the identities of over 260 American citizens in 2016 who were named in foreign intelligence reports.

The USAID did not return a request for comment.