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Did Pete Hegseth’s broker attempt to buy defense fund before Iran attack? Sean Parnell speaks out, ‘This allegation is…’
Sean Parnell has addressed claims that Pete Hegseth's broker looked to make a big investment in major defense companies in before the Iran attack.
Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs Sean Parnell has spoken out after reports surfaced that a broker for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to make a big investment in major defense companies in the weeks that led up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Parnell dismissed the claim as false, sharing a Financial Times report that cited three people familiar with the matter.
“This allegation is entirely false and fabricated. Neither Secretary Hegseth nor any of his representatives approached BlackRock about any such investment. This is yet another baseless, dishonest smear designed to mislead the public,” Parnell wrote on X.
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“We demand an immediate retraction,” he added. “Secretary Hegseth and the Department of War remain unwavering in their commitment to the highest standards of ethics and strict adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.”
What did the report claim?
The Financial Times report claimed that Hegseth's broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock back in February to talk about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager's Defense Industrials Active ETF. This, per the outlet, happened just shortly before the United States launched military action against Tehran.
The outlet further claimed that the investment discussed by Hegseth’s broker did not ultimately go ahead. The fund, launched in May last year, was reportedly not yet available for Morgan Stanley clients to buy.
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The report, however, did not discuss how much discretion the broker had to make investments on Hegseth's behalf. It also did not say whether Hegseth knew what the broker was doing.
The Financial Times report comes at a time when there is wider scrutiny of trades made in financial and prediction markets ahead of Donald Trump’s policy decisions. Some of these decisions were preceded by well-timed bets. It prompted some experts to question if information had somehow leaked ahead of time, according to Reuters.
