August 14,2025

Wyden, Warren Probe Lutnick Firm’s Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to Massive Tariff Bets

Following Reports that Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street Firm Once Run by Commerce Secretary Lutnick and Now Run by Lutnick’s Son, Is Selling Tariff Bets, Senators Sound Alarm over Possible Conflicts of Interest and Insider Trading

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote today to Brandon Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., about possible conflicts of interest and insider trading stemming from the bets that his firm is reportedly making on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs. Howard Lutnick, Brandon Lutnick’s father and a top tariff negotiator as Secretary of Commerce, was the head of Cantor Fitzgerald until earlier this year.

“We write regarding recent reports that your investment banking subsidiary has created a financial product for the purpose of betting on the outcome of litigation related to President Trump’s tariffs … Given that one of the purported architects of President Trump’s tariff policy is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, your father and the former Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, LP, the firm’s actions raise obvious conflict-of-interest and insider dealing concerns,” Senators Wyden and Warren wrote. “If the President’s tariffs are ultimately declared unlawful, companies that paid the tariffs may be entitled to a refund of those duties from the U.S. Government. Public reporting indicates that Cantor has offered companies the opportunity to trade their legal claim to a future tariff refund in exchange for twenty to thirty percent of the duties the company paid … A Cantor representative reportedly said the firm has, ‘the capacity to trade up to several hundred million of these presently and can likely upsize that in the future to meet potential demand.’”

The full letter from Senators Wyden and Warren to Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Lutnick is available here. The questions asked in the letter follow below:

  1. How many Tariff Refund Agreements have been drafted to date, and how many have been finalized?

  2. Is Cantor, or any affiliated entity, the counterparty in any Tariff Refund Agreement? If not, how many different counterparties are involved with these Tariff Refund Agreements?

  3. Did Cantor create the Tariff Refund Agreements at the request of a specific client or did Cantor originate the Tariff Refund Agreements?

  4. Has Cantor sold its rights under any of the Tariff Refund Agreements? If so, to whom?

  5. Please provide the specific language used to assign potential refunds to a counterparty.

  6. Does the language in the Tariff Refund Agreements with the duty-paying company only apply to refunds as a result of litigation or to any and all potential refunds as a result of any action? Explain.

    1. Do the Tariff Refund Agreements with duty-paying companies extend to refunds issued for situations, including but not limited to, an administrative exclusion that resulted in a retroactive refund?

    2. On April 29, President Trump signed Executive Order 14289, providing for clarification of certain “stacked” tariffs, allowing CBP to begin issuing refunds tied to overpaid duties. Would a Tariff Refund Agreement include a refund in this or a similar case?

  7. Has anyone at Cantor or Cantor Fitzgerald, LP communicated with any person within the Executive Branch, including President Trump, Secretary Lutnick, any individual employed by the Commerce Department, or any other individuals, about tariffs, refunds or exclusions and the legal cases involving IEEPA? If so, please provide a list of all such conversations, including the date, the individuals involved, and the nature of the conversation.

  8. Has anyone at Cantor or Cantor Fitzgerald, LP communicated with any individual representing the Administration’s interest or working on the court cases on these matters? If so, please provide a list of all such conversations, including the date, the individuals involved, and the nature of the conversation.

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