United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has come under fire for a slew of controversial foreign investments in Iran and for her ties to the Keystone XL pipeline.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rice has assets between $23.5 million and $43.5 million. The nonpartisan group named her the wealthiest member of the executive branch in 2009.
As first reported by the Free Beacon, Rice’s portfolio includes investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in several energy companies known for doing business with Iran.
A Washington Free Beacon analysis of her personal financial disclosure statement shows additional controversial foreign investments.
Among the foreign entities in which Rice holds assets is Banco Santander. Santander and its investors lost more than $3.2 billion as a result of Bernie Madoff’s fraudulent Ponzi scheme. It is believed that Santander was aware of the fraudulent nature of Madoff’s scheme and continued to increase its investments anyway. A federal judge ruled that Santander could not be sued under U.S. securities law because, while the suit was filed in the U.S., the fraudulent acts were more readily apparent in Europe.
Rice also has investments in Shire PLC, an Irish bio-pharmaceutical company. Shire was the third largest pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom before it decided to bolt from the country for a tax break. The company in 2008 became a tax resident of Ireland in order to reduce its payment on $2.1 billion of largely international sales.
Another of Rice's investments, Marvell Technology Group, is a semiconductor provider headquartered in tax haven Bermuda. The Obama campaign was quick to take aim at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for holding assets in Bermuda-based companies. Rice made three purchases of Marvell between May 5, 2011 and September 15, 2011. On October 14 of that year, Rice sold up to $50,000 worth of Marvell stock. Rice’s current position in Marvell Technology is unclear.