According to an exclusive report by The Daily Caller, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted an ethics waiver to Alexis Pelosi, the wife of Nancy Pelosi’s nephew Laurence Pelosi, in January 2022.

This waiver allowed for a potential financial conflict of interest to go unresolved, highlighting a controversial decision by the federal agency.

The waiver permitted Alexis Pelosi to continue working at HUD while her husband, Laurence Pelosi, held a stake in a real estate venture called Restore Utah, which benefits from HUD’s Section 8 housing vouchers.

Typically, federal ethics rules would prohibit such an arrangement, but HUD found an exemption citing “undue hardship” for the couple if Laurence Pelosi were forced to divest his stake in the project.

HUD's Justification For Granting The Waiver

HUD's decision to approve the waiver was based on the claim that requiring Laurence Pelosi to divest from Restore Utah or forgo HUD funds would result in "undue hardship" for the couple. The department also stated that Restore Utah was Laurence Pelosi's "primary profession."

However, financial disclosures indicate that Laurence Pelosi had multiple income streams around the time the waiver was approved.

In 2022, he collected salaries from two different law firms and received consulting fees from two others. This information raises questions about the necessity and appropriateness of the waiver.

As of July 2022, Laurence Pelosi's stake in Restore Utah was valued between $2 million and $10 million. Historical data shows that 5% to 10% of Restore Utah tenants have used Section 8 vouchers, directly connecting the project to HUD funding.

Additional Ethics Waivers And Employment Changes

The ethics waiver for Alexis Pelosi is not an isolated incident. The Biden-Harris administration has granted dozens of ethics waivers for various bureaucrats, according to watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust. This pattern has drawn criticism from those concerned about potential conflicts of interest within the administration.

In June 2023, Laurence Pelosi was named co-lead of Crow Holdings Renewables, a position he took on after his wife became a senior climate advisor at HUD.

This career move has raised eyebrows, given the timing and potential connections between his wife's role and his new position in the renewables sector.

Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public's Trust, commented on the situation:

What a tremendous stroke of luck for Laurence to have nailed down the senior manager for renewables gig for a real estate firm when, coincidentally, his wife was a senior climate advisor at HUD in the Biden-Harris administration, which brags of doling out hundreds of billions of dollars for renewables.

Questions Of Preferential Treatment And Public Trust

The approval of multiple ethics waivers for Alexis Pelosi has led to speculation about potential preferential treatment.

In addition to the initial waiver, she received another to attend a dinner hosted by Enterprise Community Partners, with the $300 tab paid by Crow Holdings, her husband's employer.

Notably, Alexis Pelosi had met with an Enterprise Community Partners senior director via Zoom less than two weeks before applying for the dinner waiver. This sequence of events has further fueled concerns about the appearance of conflicts of interest.

Chamberlain expressed his concerns about the situation:

It certainly makes one wonder whether HUD would have gone to such lengths to accommodate an official whose family name was not 'Pelosi.' However, it is in keeping with the Biden-Harris administration's practice of appointing highly conflicted individuals to powerful positions, then simply brushing away the conflicts with waivers. Little wonder that, despite their claims to be the most ethical administration in history, the public's trust in the federal government continues to nosedive.

The repeated granting of ethics waivers to Alexis Pelosi has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest within HUD. The department approved a waiver allowing her husband, Laurence Pelosi, to retain his stake in a real estate venture benefiting from HUD funding while she was employed at the agency.

Additional waivers and career moves have further complicated the situation. Critics argue that these actions undermine public trust in the government and call into question the administration's commitment to ethical standards.