The Carlyle Group's Vantive funneled money to Trump II's planned $200 million ballroom that ballooned to $300 million. Vantive is the former kidney care division of Baxter International. Carlyle bought it in January and renamed it Vantive.
Cerberus, another politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) like Carlyle, got a boost from Trump II's deal tour across Asia. A Lone Star Funds affiliate, Vigor Marine, also got named in Trump's deal a-la-poolza. Lone Star bought Vigor from Carlyle and another PEU owner.
Another venture named by Trump II, ReElement Technology, is part of American Resources Corporation. American Resource's CEO/Board Chair and President/Director founded a "fundamentally-orientated private equity style investment fund, T Squared Partners" in 2007.
Business Insider Africe recently ran a story on Mr. Jensen. It included:
So how did T Squared Partners do with the private equity style investment fund? They ran Fund 1 into the ground. Major investor Hull Capital sued alongside other investors in 2014 for damages. A portion of the civil suit stated:
During operation of the Fund, Defendants breached the Fund’s Operating Agreement in several critical ways causing substantial losses to the Fund, including by: investing fund assets in at least three fraudulent investments; failing to perform even minimally competent due diligence as to those investments; refusing to provide Plaintiffs access to a complete set of books and records of the Fund; charging excessive annual management fees; reimbursing themselves for out-of-pocket expenses in excess over the reimbursement amount permitted under the LLC Agreement, including start up fees and personal tax benefits achieved by moving operation of the Fund to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands; and failing to manage the business and affairs of the Fund, including maintenance of the books and records of the Fund, in an honest and competent manner.
The Court allowed some of the causes of action to go forward in 2019.
The Plaintiffs rely on certain deposition testimony by Mr. Jensen that purportedly concedes that he and Mr. Sauve "may have" spent more than 1000 hours per year working for entities other than Fund 1 (Jensen Dep., pp. 344-48), and the fact that Mr. Jensen admitted that he, Mr. Sauve and the Managing Member had established or acquired at least nine companies other than Fund 1, and that he and Mr. Sauve occupied high-level roles at each of those nine companies.
T Squared Partners marketed itself as full time devoted to the fund. It also cited due diligence.
...the Managing Member permitted Fund 1 to pay what may be "excessive fees" of $6,000/month to Greg Jensen, Mark Jensen's brother, as a consultant. Greg Jensen served as Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination, investment monitoring, and portfolio maintenance" (Feder Aff., Ex. 6, Jensen EBT, p. 110). However, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen admitted that prior to being hired by Fund 1, he had no professional investment or finance-related experience whatsoever, and that prior to his hiring, he had never conducted due diligence on a prospective portfolio investment (id., pp. 87-89, 103-105). Greg Jensen could not name a single individual in Fund 1's purported network of 13 due diligence professionals in China - notwithstanding that he was Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination" (id., pp. 115-118). Put another way, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen was hired as a favor to Mr. Jensen and not because he was competent to perform his duties and the payments to him were, therefore, improper and excessive. This also cannot be resolved at this stage of the proceeding.This echoes recent abject due diligence failures amongst private credit offerings.
CEO Mark Jensen, President Tom Suave and Chief Financial Officer Kirk Taylor took over American Resources Corporation in 2017.
They are also executives and board members for Royalty Management Holding Company and its predecessor. Their 2025 proxy statement showed Related Party transactions:
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Transactions with Related Persons, Promoters and Certain Control Persons.Land Resources & Royalties LLC, Wabash Wings LLC, and Wabash Enterprises LLC The Company currently, and may at times in the future, leases property from Land Resources & Royalties LLC (“LRR”) and has entered into various other agreements with LRR and/or its parent company, Wabash Enterprises LLC, an entity managed by Thomas Sauve and which Kirk Taylor is part beneficial owner. The Company has in the past, and may in the future, leased use of an aircraft owned by Wabash Wings LLC, another wholly owned subsidiary of Wabash Enterprises LLC and an entity managed by Thomas Sauve. Furthermore, on October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, Wabash Enterprises LLC and LRR became an owner of Class A Common Stock of the Company and several leases and agreements exist between LRR and the Company, for which LRR receives income.Land Betterment Corporation The Company currently, and may at times in the future, has agreements with Land Betterment Corporation, an entity in which Kirk Taylor is a director, President and Chief Financial Officer and Thomas Sauve who was a director and Chief Development Officer. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had entered into a contractor services agreement with Land Betterment Corporation for environmental services personnel. The contract called for cost plus 12.5% margin.American Resources Corporation The Company may at times enter into agreements with American Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries, an entity in which Thomas Sauve is a director and President, and Kirk Taylor is the Chief Financial Officer.First Frontier Capital LLC The Company may at times enter into agreements with First Frontier Capital LLC, an entity managed and beneficially owned by Thomas Sauve, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company. On February 1, 2022, First Frontier Capital LLC invested $10,000 cash into the Company in the form of the Round A Convertible Note and 385 warrants issued under Warrant “A-7.” On October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, the notes and warrants held by First Frontier Capital LLC were converted into Class A Common Stock of the Company.
Royalty Management Holding Company's major shareholders are an interlocking group of LLCs controlled by Jensen, Suave and Taylor.
The SPAC that turned into Royalty Management showed the interlocks in a SEC filing:
PEUs remain at the political table. It's the insider money funnel and only a select few participate.
The lug nuts are loosening from all directions, inside (fraud, conflicts of interest), outside (little to no due diligence, regulatory evaporation) and all actively encouraged by Trump II.
"Loosen the nuts" has arrived simultaneously with "Let the Nuts Loose." Anything goes under Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one. They will be saved. The rest of us are clearly on our own.