The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved an ethics waiver for the wife of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's nephew in January 2022, leaving a potential financial conflict of interest unresolved, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Lawrence Pelosi, nephew of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was an investor in a real estate venture with Goldman Sachs. Rebuilding UtahAccording to a copy of the exemption approval released by the watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust, Trump's wife, Alexis Pelosi, worked at the agency, which receives benefits from HUD's Section 8 housing vouchers, while Trump worked there.

While it would normally violate federal ethics rules for the spouse of a recipient of HUD funds to be employed by HUD, HUD made an exception, allowing Lawrence to retain an interest in the real estate project, arguing that requiring him to give up his investment or for the project to give up HUD funds would create an “undue hardship” for Alexis and her husband.

Part of HUD's justification was that rebuilding Utah was Laurence Pelosi's “primary occupation,” but Alexis Pelosi's Financial Disclosure Around the time his conflict of interest waiver was approved, it shows he had four other sources of income: Lawrence Pelosi received a salary from two different law firms in 2022, plus consulting fees from two other law firms. (Related article: Emails reveal former FDA official was close to activists months before joining)

According to disclosures from Lawrence Pelosi's wife, his stake in Restore Utah is worth between $2 million and $10 million as of July 2022. According to HUD's response to Alexis Pelosi's waiver request, between 5% and 10% of Restore Utah tenants have used Section 8 vouchers to date.

Nancy, Lawrence and Alexis Pelosi did not immediately respond to the DCNF's request for comment.

“It's good to be Washington royalty,” PPT director Michael Chamberlain told DNCF. “Ethics officials certainly seem to have gone out of their way to justify her. Exemptions should be rare and limited to special circumstances for individuals with special qualifications. As we've seen, the Biden-Harris Administration appears to have a different philosophy, consistently appointing people with conflicts of interest to powerful positions and then using waivers to magically make those conflicts of interest disappear.”

The Biden-Harris administration has granted dozens more ethics waivers to public officials. According to To a running tracker managed by PPT.

Alexis Pelosi did not list her husband's occupation. Crow HoldingsHe spoke about the financial disclosure of the real estate company where he joined in 2019 and currently serves as senior managing director.

Lawrence Pelosi is name He is set to become co-president of Crow Holdings Renewables in June 2023 after his wife takes on the role of senior climate adviser to HUD.

“How fortunate that Lawrence landed a job as senior manager of renewable energy for a real estate company when, coincidentally, his wife served as senior climate advisor for the Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Biden-Harris Administration, which boasts of investing hundreds of billions of dollars in renewable energy,” Chamberlain told DCNF.

Alexis Pelosi too Attended According to documents obtained by the DCNF, she received a separate ethics waiver allowing her husband's company to pay her $300 for attending a Crow Holdings-funded dinner hosted by Enterprise Community Partners in Washington, D.C., as an individual and not as a representative of HUD. But she failed to mention in her waiver application that she had met with one of Enterprise Community Partners' senior directors over a Zoom call less than two weeks before applying for the waiver.

“I certainly question whether HUD would go to such lengths to accommodate an official whose last name is not 'Pelosi,'” Chamberlain said in a press release obtained by DCNF. “But this is consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration's practice of appointing individuals with highly conflicting interests to powerful positions and then easily ignoring the conflicts of interest with waivers. It's no wonder that public confidence in the federal government continues to plummet, despite claims to be the most ethical administration in history.”

HUD did not immediately respond to DCNF's request for comment.

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