The billionaire investor Ken Griffin has accused Donald Trump’s administration of “enriching” its families, and criticised its interference in American businesses as “distasteful”.
Griffin, who is the chief executive of the hedge fund Citadel and a large Republican donor, rebuked the Trump administration, saying it “has definitely made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching to the families of those in the administration”.
“That calls into question, is the public interest being served?” he said at a conference on Tuesday in Florida hosted by the Wall Street Journal.
Griffin is one of the most vocal critics of Trump on Wall Street, although it is the first time he has commented on how the president’s family appear to have made financial gain from their proximity to the White House.
Trump’s eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, have benefited from the White House’s crypto-friendly policies, and have secured a series of big business deals since their father’s re-election. They have previously insisted there was a “huge wall” between their moneymaking and their father’s position.
Griffin added that most chief executives he was friends with “find it incredibly distasteful” when the “US government starts to engage in corporate America in a way that tastes of favouritism”.
“Most CEOs just don’t want to find themselves in the business of having to, in some sense, suck up to one administration after another to succeed in running their business,” he said.
Griffin is a longtime Republican donor, giving millions of dollars to conservative groups during the 2024 election cycle. He did not fund Trump’s re-election campaign, but after Trump won, he gave $1m to the president’s inaugural committee.
He did highlight specific Trump policies that he supported at the conference in Florida, including the president’s focus on securing the US border with Mexico and his nomination of Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve last week.
The billionaire also suggested he might run for office himself, and said: “In a future point in my life I would like to be involved in public service.”
In response to Griffin’s comments, the White House spokesperson Kush Desai told the Financial Times: “The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people.
“The fact that major stock indexes have hit multiple all-time highs, real wages have grown, and inflation has cooled since president Trump took office is proof that this administration is delivering for every American.”
