PEU Vectoring for Your 401(k)

Two years and ten days ago Red Team former Senator Pat Toomey joined the Apollo board of directors.  Apollo is a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).  

Leon Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan founded Apollo in 1990.  Rowan recently received strong consideration for Treasury Secretary.  Harris left and now owns stakes in professional sports teams (whose leagues now court PEU investment).  Leon Black retired after funding Jeffrey Epstein's child abuse empire which snared many political and financial heavy hitters.

Back to Pat Toomey's service on the Apollo board.  His 2023 board compensation totaled nearly $720,000 for just over ten months of service.  That's roughly $70,000 per month.

PEUs, like Apollo, want access to Americans' 401(k) accounts.  Bloomberg and Barron's recently ran stories on private equity's seeking access to those retirement accounts.

A look at Toomey's Senate career from a fundraising perspective provides insights.  Open Secrets shows his big backers include:

Toomey's largest backer, The Club for Growth, wants to go further than the 401(k), it wants to turn Social Security into a personal retirement account.  That must have the PEU boys salivating, given their longtime love for Uncle Sam's wallet.

Blackstone is another Toomey sponsor and politically connected PEU.  They just got Tim Sheehy elected Senator from Montana.  Blackstone spread money amongst the Reds, Whites and Blues

Federated Hermes sponsored Toomey to the tune of $143,900 during his Senate career.  They are in the retirement account business and were sued in 2023 for limiting their own employee retirement options. (pushing their own book).  

The filing alleged persistent underperformance and excessive fees.  Let's hope that's not in everyone's retirement PEUture.

Toomey's 2024 Apollo board compensation should be released in the next month.  I will add that to this piece as an update.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  Will Trump II, the digital Caligula, and his compliant Congress give the greed and leverage boys access to your 401(k)?  In a heartbeat...

Update 3-27-25:  "Business leaders are backing President Donald Trump publicly, but privately they are concerned about Trump's tariffs and how they'll impact the economy, according to David Rubenstein."

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