Omeed Malik, CEO, Colombier Acquisition Corp on the Latest York Stock Exchange, June 17, 2021.
Source: NYSE
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist who’s now running for president, has one other wealthy backer in his corner: veteran Wall Street executive Omeed Malik.
Last month, Malik took Kennedy to a swanky private dinner on the Bellagio in Las Vegas to rub elbows with an array of political power players, in keeping with people accustomed to the matter.Â
Attendees on the dinner, which coincided with the SCALE Global Business Summit, included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Trump economic advisor Gary Cohn, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ex-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Democratic megadonor Marc Lasry, the people said.
Most of the attendees were listed as speakers on the summit. A spokeswoman for Cohn confirmed his attendance on the dinner and that the gathering included most of the speakers on the summit. Representatives for Kennedy, Clinton, Pompeo, Summers and Lasry didn’t return requests for comment in regards to the dinner. A spokesperson for Johnson couldn’t be reached.
While these people said Kennedy didn’t pitch himself as a candidate, his attendance on the dinner represents one other strategy to beef up his presence within the political conversation despite having publicly pushed quite a few conspiracy theories, including debunked takes on vaccines. The people declined to be named to with a view to talk about private deliberations and conversations.
The election was nonetheless on attendees’ minds on the dinner. An individual accustomed to the matter said there have been some, including Clinton, who suggested that President Joe Biden’s age could possibly be a hurdle that he’ll must shrug off to voters. Clinton also cheered on Biden’s tenure as president, one other person said. She previously said at a Financial Times event in May that Biden’s “age is a problem. And other people have every right to contemplate it.” Biden will turn 82 soon after next yr’s general election, while former President Donald Trump will probably be 78 come November 2024.
Kennedy has also gained just a little traction in polls pitting him against Biden within the Democratic primary race. A June Quinnipiac poll shows Biden with 70 % support amongst Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, while Kennedy has 17% in approval amongst those self same groups.
Name recognition is probably going a component of that. Kennedy is the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential run in 1968, and the nephew of late President John F. Kennedy, who was shot dead in 1963.
Malik, meanwhile, joins other wealthy donors of their support for Kennedy. Enterprise capitalist David Sacks and fellow tech leader Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Kennedy this month, in keeping with a tweet by Palihapitiya. The tweet said that “turnout was amazing” and attendees were Democrats, Republicans and independents. The event raised roughly $500,000 for Kennedy’s campaign, in keeping with one other person with direct knowledge of the matter. Kennedy was also once a guest on Sacks and Palihapitiya’s podcast.
Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk hosted Kennedy in a recent Twitter Spaces. Malik joined the discussion. Musk said last yr he was leaning toward backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. He later hosted a glitchy Twitter Spaces for the Florida Republican when he announced his run for president.
Malik gears as much as host fundraisers
Malik will even host a campaign fundraiser for Kennedy within the ritzy Hamptons in July, in keeping with those with direct knowledge of the matter. CNBC has also reviewed an invite to the Sag Harbor gathering. The invitation, which doesn’t name Malik, says the event will feature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a dinner featuring a discussion with Kennedy.
Tickets for the gathering are going for $6,600, the max a person donor can provide on to a campaign. Often, half goes toward a primary account and the opposite half goes toward a general election pool of funds.
A Malik-hosted Hamptons event for DeSantis can be within the works for July, in keeping with certainly one of the people.
A spokesman for the DeSantis campaign didn’t return a request for comment. Malik himself has donated to candidates on either side of the aisle. He gave to DeSantis when he ran for reelection in 2022, in addition to Biden’s 2020 campaign and with Donald Trump’s failed second run for the White House, in keeping with data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.
Malik worked as a managing director at Bank of America until 2018 before a reported controversy that, according to the Latest York Post, led to an eight figure settlement with the firm that he won.
Malik has since created his own lane on Wall Street with two firms: 1789 Capital and Farvahar Partners.
The Post reported that Malik is launching a latest fund through 1789 Capital called EIG — or entrepreneurship, innovation and growth entrepreneurship.
The paper said the $150 million fund is backed GOP megadonor Rebekah Mercer who helped finance Breitbart and later Cambridge Analytica, and former Republican Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters who used to work for fellow Republican financier Peter Thiel.
