The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has come under scrutiny for granting an ethics waiver that has raised conflict-of-interest concerns involving relatives of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
According to the Daily Caller, the waiver, issued in January 2022, allowed Laurence Pelosi, the nephew of Nancy Pelosi, to maintain a financial interest in a real estate project benefiting from HUD funds while his wife, Alexis Pelosi, worked for the agency.
HUD granted the ethics waiver to Alexis Pelosi, who serves as a senior climate advisor, permitting her husband to keep his financial stake in Restore Utah. The real estate project, which benefits from HUD's Section 8 housing vouchers, posed a potential conflict of interest because of Alexis Pelosi's position in the department. Restore Utah is partially funded by HUD, creating concerns about a conflict of interest.
HUD granted the waiver after it determined that requiring Laurence to divest his financial stake or barring Restore Utah from receiving HUD funding would impose an undue hardship on the Pelosi family. According to Alexis Pelosi’s financial disclosures, Laurence’s interest in Restore Utah was valued between $2 million and $10 million as of mid-2022. The Biden-Harris administration has previously faced criticism for granting numerous ethics waivers to officials with financial conflicts of interest, further fueling the debate about the appropriateness of this waiver.
Laurence Pelosi, in addition to his role with Restore Utah, has a wide array of financial interests. He received multiple income streams in 2022, including salaries from two law firms and consulting fees from other firms. His financial disclosures revealed that between 5% and 10% of Restore Utah’s tenants historically used HUD's Section 8 vouchers.
Pelosi also did not disclose his employment at Crow Holdings in his wife’s financial filings. Laurence has been a senior managing director at Crow Holdings since 2019, further complicating his financial ties. In June 2023, he was named co-lead of Crow Holdings Renewables. HUD justified the decision to grant the waiver, noting that without it, the Pelosi family would face a significant financial burden. However, critics argue that the waiver raises questions about the Biden administration’s handling of ethics concerns.
The ethics waiver for Alexis Pelosi is part of a broader pattern, critics say, in which the Biden-Harris administration has approved numerous similar waivers for government officials with financial conflicts. Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), an ethics watchdog group has raised concerns over the frequency of these waivers.
Michael Chamberlain, the director of PPT, criticized the waiver, stating that "ethics officials certainly seemed to go out of their way to find a justification." He added that such waivers should be rare and limited to exceptional circumstances, rather than a tool to bypass conflict-of-interest concerns. “As we’ve seen, the Biden-Harris administration appears to have a different philosophy, consistently appointing conflicted individuals to powerful posts and then using waivers to magically make those conflicts disappear,” Chamberlain said.
PPT has highlighted several examples where ethics waivers were issued under questionable circumstances, arguing that the administration has failed to live up to its promise of being the "most ethical" in history. According to Chamberlain, these concerns have contributed to a growing lack of trust in the federal government.
Further complicating the situation is Laurence Pelosi’s role at Crow Holdings. In June 2023, they named him co-lead of Crow Holdings Renewables, a move that drew attention because of his wife’s position at HUD. Crow Holdings is a significant player in the real estate sector, and Laurence’s involvement in the firm has raised additional ethical questions.
Adding to the controversy, Alexis Pelosi received another ethics waiver allowing Crow Holdings to pay for a dinner she attended in her capacity. Critics have noted that she failed to disclose prior interactions with a senior director from the host organization, which has further fueled concerns about transparency. Chamberlain also pointed out that Laurence’s new role at Crow Holdings coincided with Alexis’ position as a senior climate advisor at HUD. He questioned whether the department would have gone to such lengths to accommodate an official without the Pelosi family name.
The waiver granted to Alexis Pelosi by HUD has sparked public concern over the potential conflict of interest involving her husband’s financial ties to a HUD-funded project. Critics argue that the waiver is part of a broader pattern within the Biden-Harris administration of approving ethics waivers for officials with financial conflicts.
Laurence Pelosi’s financial stake in Restore Utah and his role at Crow Holdings have further complicated the ethical landscape surrounding this waiver. With several ethics waivers already granted to officials in the administration, watchdog groups are calling for greater transparency and accountability. As the Biden administration continues to navigate these controversies, public trust in federal government ethics remains at risk.
