Janet Yellen, Biden’s pick to lead Treasury, made over $7m in speaking fees in two years

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, collected more than $7 million in speaking fees in 2019 and 2020 from major financial firms and tech giants including Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Google, according to disclosure forms filed as part of her nomination. 

Ms Yellen was one of three financial disclosures filed by Biden transition officials that were made public on Thursday by the Office of Government Ethics. 

In a separate filing, Ms Yellen listed firms and banks where she had received speaking fees and said she intended to “seek written authorization” from ethics officials to “participate personally and substantially” in matters involving them.

Ms Yellen was the Federal Reserve chair from 2014 to 2018. Her term was not renewed by Donald Trump.

Making just over $200,000 as the head of the Federal Reserve, Ms Yellen went on to make $112,500 for an engagement at the Swiss investment bank UBS; $225,000 from accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, and $270,000 from British bank Standard Chartered.

Reuters reported in 2014 that at least 113 employees at the central bank made more than the chair. The average salary of those employees was $246,506 at the time when Ms Yellen was heading the central bank.  

Her selection by Mr Biden to lead the Treasury Department has been cheered by progressive Democrats, who support Ms Yellen’s work as a labour economist who has long prioritized combating economic inequality. Since her nomination was announced, Ms Yellen has pledged to work to combat systemic racism and climate change.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ms Yellen will be in charge of overseeing the activity of the firms by which she was paid big speaking fees. Goldman Sachs was one of the multiple banks who dealt in subprime mortgages which in part led to the housing bubble and subsequent financial crisis of 2008. Ms Yellen was paid $67,500 for her speech at Goldman Sachs, the documents show. 

In a keynote address to the Brookings Institution research group in September 2018, Ms Yellen said of the 2008 crisis: “It was clear that there had been numerous vulnerabilities within the financial system. Financial institutions assumed too much risk, especially related to the housing market. Mortgage lending standards were far too lax and contributed to substantial overborrowing.” 

She was paid $54,000 for taking part in an event at the British investment bank Barclays and $292,500 for a speech at the hedge fund Citadel. 

Receiving steep payments from Wall Street bankers and other powerful corporations could become an issue as her nomination works its way through a closely divided and potentially contentious Senate. Hillary Clinton faced criticism from the left wing of the Democratic Party while running for president in 2016 for having received past, lucrative speaking fees at Wall Street firms.

But it’s not uncommon for former government officials to cash in once they retire. Ms Yellen’s predecessor Ben Bernanke was paid around $250,000 for a speech, making more in 40 minutes than “all of last year as head of the U.S. Federal Reserve,” as Reuters reported in 2014.

The Guardian reported that Ms Yellen pledged to resign from her post at the Australian investment firm Magellan. She was paid $125,000 for consulting work and $225,000 in speaking fees. To avoid conflict of interest, Ms Yellen also promised to give up assets in 13 companies, one of which is Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant behind one of the Covid-19 vaccines. 

Also released Thursday were disclosure forms from Mr Biden’s choice to be Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who detailed advising clients including Bank of America and Facebook as part of a consulting firm he co-founded. Avril Haines, Mr Biden’s choice to be the director of national intelligence, disclosed being a consultant at the same firm, WestExec Advisors. 

AP contributed to this report