New government documents show that John Kerry’s wife, heiress of Heinz Ketchup, has millions of dollars in Chinese investments, leaving Biden’s climate change envoy facing an ethical dilemma.
Kerry’s latest filing with the Office of Government Ethics in March shows his wife benefits from an investment of “at least $1 million” in a hedge fund that specializes in private partnerships and investments with Chinese government-controlled funds, the Daily Mail reports.
Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz, is the widow of late senator John Heinz and heiress to the Heinz family fortune, which is estimated to be worth over $750 million.
Kerry often meets with Chinese leaders and diplomats to negotiate with the industrial superpower to cut deals on reducing its carbon footprint.
The former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, Richard Painter, expressed concerns that the Chinese government could use this as a threatening tactic to pressure Kerry.
“As soon as anyone even hinted that the Chinese government would try to do anything to pull the rug from those companies if he didn’t do what they wanted, at that point it would create a problem for him under US code 208.”
Hellbound and Down 