The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in January 2022 approved an ethics waiver for the wife of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s nephew allowing for a potential financial conflict of interest to go unresolved, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Laurence Pelosi, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nephew, had a stake in a joint real estate venture with Goldman Sachs called Restore Utah, which benefits from HUD’s Section 8 housing vouchers, while his wife, Alexis Pelosi, was employed at the agency, according to a copy of the waiver approval released by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust.
While it would usually violate federal ethics rules for a beneficiary of HUD funds to have a spouse employed at the department, HUD found an exemption that allowed Laurence to retain his stake in the real estate project. Requiring him to divest, or his project to forgo HUD funds, would allegedly result in “undue hardship” for Alexis and her husband.
Part of HUD’s reasoning was that Restore Utah was Laurence Pelosi’s “primary profession,” however, Alexis Pelosi’s financial disclosures indicate that he had four other income streams around the time the conflict of interest waiver was approved. Laurence Pelosi collected salaries from two different law firms and consulting fees from two other law firms in 2022.
Laurence Pelosi’s stake in Restore Utah, according to his wife’s disclosures, was worth between $2 million and $10 million as of July 2022. Between 5% and 10% of Restore Utah tenants have historically used Section 8 vouchers, according to HUD’s response to Alexis Pelosi’s waiver request.