The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has posted the financial disclosure report filed by Daniel Aronowitz, President Donald Trump's nominee to be an assistant Labor secretary and the administrator of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
Aronowitz is a labor lawyer; a fiduciary law blogger; the past president of an Ullico insurance subsidiary, Ullico Casualty; and the founder and managing principal of Euclid Specialty, a company that sells fiduciary insurance to the managers of nonprofit employer benefit plans and multiemployer benefit plans.
After Hub International's Specialty Program Group bought Euclid, in December 2022, the name of the business changed to Encore Fiduciary. Aronowitz became president of Encore Fiduciary.
For many items, the Form 278e report shows a range of values, rather than one actual or estimated value. Some of the assets belong to his wife. Together, Aronowitz and his wife have described having more than $31 million in assets, including a $19 million "earnout payment," or reward, for the strong performance of Encore in the two years after Specialty Program Group acquired it.
Aronowitz could not immediately be reached for comment on the ethics agreement letter.
What it means: Senate leaders appear to be closer to bringing Aronowitz's nomination up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee backed his nomination by a 14-9 vote June 5.
As the EBSA administrator, Aronowitz would help develop and implement the regulations governing 401(k) plans and other retirement plans, and he would be responsible for deciding what to do about the suspended retirement asset rollover regulations.
EBSA could take a more active approach to repealing, revising, adding and enforcing retirement asset rollover regulations and other guidelines after it has a confirmed administrator.
The Aronowitz Form 278 also provides a glimpse of how a high-level insurance industry executive has organized his own finances, and it might give other financial professionals clues about what kinds of financial arrangements Aronowitz has seen up close in his own life.
Financial disclosure report details: Aronowitz, 58, and his wife, Jeanine, live in Fairfax, Virginia, and have two children in high school.
The Aronowitz Form 278e report shows that the nominee and his wife have a portfolio of stocks and bonds; investments in a variety of mutual funds and ETFs from companies such as Fidelity, JPMorgan and Vanguard; and assets in four Virginia 529 college savings plan portfolios. In addition, Aronowitz:
◆ Has an annual salary of $642,405 from Encore Fiduciary.
◆ Has vested restricted stock in Hub, which is controlled by private equity firms, with a value between $5 million and $25 million.
◆ Owns more than $100,000 in bitcoin and more than $1,000 in ether.
◆ Is the unpaid co-trustee of a revocable family trust.
◆ Expects to collect a pension of about $4,000 per month at age 65 from the AFL-CIO as a result of his work for Ullico.
◆ Owns a 50% stake in Kelly's Oyster House & Bar in Fairfax, Virginia.
◆ Owns a holding company that controls Wahoo Docks, a reusable floating dock manufacturer, and Wells Cargo, a trailer manufacturer.
The Form 278e does not appear to list any cash-value life insurance policies or individual annuities. The form shows that the provider of Jeanine Aronowitz's pension is using a group annuity from an insurance company to provide the benefits.
The official rules for filling out the form require nominees to list annuities and cash-value life insurance but not term life insurance.
Aronowitz plans to divest most of the assets within about 90 days after being confirmed as EBSA administrator, but he plans to continue to be a co-trustee of the family trust, according to a separate ethics agreement filing.
Daniel Aronowitz testifying June 5 at a Senate confirmation hearing. Credit: Senate HELP Committee
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