DOGE bro helped fire ethics lawyers who warned him over his $715,000 in banned company stocks: report
Source: The Independent
Wednesday 07 May 2025 17:31 EDT
A staffer with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency allegedly helped conduct April layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including the dismissal of the same ethics lawyers who reportedly warned him days earlier over his stock holdings in companies that were barred under ethics rules. In early April, agency ethics lawyers warned Gavin Kliger, 25, that his stock holdings included companies on the agency’s “Prohibited Holdings” list, ProPublica reports.
Kliger, who has reportedly been at the consumer watchdog agency with DOGE since March, holds two cryptocurrencies as well as stock in Apple, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, and Alibaba, according to disclosures and a review by ProPublica. Taken together, the holdings are worth as much as $715,000.
By April 17, mass layoffs were underway at the agency, including the bureau’s ethics officer and the official’s entire team of lawyers, according to court records. In the lead-up to the firings, which are being challenged in court, Kliger spoke with senior officials about getting administrative permissions that would help him “manage and execute” the reduction in force, according to the records.
The White House insisted to ProPublica that Kliger “did not even manage” the layoffs, “making this entire narrative an outright lie.” An anonymous official at the consumer agency filed a sworn declaration that Kliger was directly involved, claiming that he “kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday (April 17).”
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/doge-musk-cfpb-stock-gavin-kliger-b2746740.html

JustAnotherGen
(35,173 posts)I was following orders will not be acceptable to me.
travelingthrulife
(2,406 posts)They should have to pay all damages out of their own pockets.
PSPS
(14,563 posts)