David Sacks’ position as President Donald Trump’s synthetic intelligence and crypto czar may work out very nicely for his investments, in addition to his mates, in keeping with a brand new report The New York Instances.
Nonetheless, Sacks fired again in a put up on X, during which he described a five-month reporting course of during which accusations have been “debunked intimately.”
“Immediately they evidently simply threw up their fingers and revealed this nothing burger,” Sacks stated. “Anybody who reads the story rigorously can see that they strung collectively a bunch of anecdotes that don’t help the headline.”
This isn’t the primary time critics have prompt that there could also be conflicts of curiosity between Sacks’ political position and his investments. For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren — a Democrat from Massachusetts — stated earlier this yr that Sacks “concurrently leads a agency invested in crypto whereas guiding the nation’s crypto coverage,” an “specific battle of curiosity” that might “usually” be prohibited underneath federal legislation.
However the NYT’s story (underneath the headline “Silicon Valley’s Man within the White Home is Benefiting Himself and His Associates,” and credited to 5 bylined reporters) appears to supply a extra complete view, with an evaluation of his monetary disclosures suggesting that amongst Sacks’ 708 tech investments, 449 are AI firms that might profit from the insurance policies he helps.
Sacks has acquired two White Home ethics waivers declaring he would promote most of his crypto and AI property. Nonetheless, the NYT stated his public ethics filings don’t disclose the remaining worth of his crypto and AI investments, nor do they are saying when he offered off the property he divested.
Kathleen Clark, a Washington College legislation professor specializing in authorities ethics, made comparable factors in July after reviewing Sacks’ crypto waiver, telling TechCrunch, “That is graft.”
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The NYT additionally stated that Sacks’ filings classify tons of of investments as {hardware} or software program, somewhat than AI, whereas the businesses pitch themselves as AI companies of their advertising.
As an example Sacks’ “intertwined pursuits,” the NYT pointed to the White Home summit in July the place Trump unveiled his AI roadmap — White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles reportedly stepped in to stop the All-In podcast (which Sacks co-hosts) from being the one host of the occasion. And All-In requested potential sponsors to pay $1 million for entry to a non-public reception and different occasions, the NYT claimed.
The NYT additionally reported that Sacks grew to become near Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang this spring and has performed a job in eradicating restrictions on Nvidia chip gross sales all over the world, together with in China.
Proper-wing media persona and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon (who’s made no secret of his animosity in direction of a few of Trump’s Silicon Valley allies) stated Sacks is emblematic of an administration the place “the tech bros are uncontrolled.”
Sacks’ spokesperson Jessica Hoffman instructed the NYT that “this battle of curiosity narrative is fake.” Hoffman stated Sacks has complied with the foundations for particular authorities workers, that the Workplace of Authorities Ethics decided which investments he needed to promote, and that his position within the authorities has price him, somewhat than benefited him.
White Home spokesperson Liz Huston stated Sacks has been “a useful asset for President Trump’s agenda of cementing American know-how dominance.”
Sacks’ put up responding to the NYT features a letter written to the newspaper from Clare Locke, a legislation agency that Sacks employed, claiming that the reporters had been given “clear marching orders: discover and report on a battle of curiosity between Mr. Sacks’ duties within the White Home and his background within the personal know-how sector.”
The letter additionally addresses a few of the specifics of the NYT story, together with the All-In podcast’s position within the White Home AI occasion. Sacks’ legal professionals stated the AI summit was a not-for-profit occasion, and that the All-In podcast “misplaced cash internet hosting the occasion.”
“Two sponsors have been introduced on to assist partially defray the price of the occasion, for which they acquired nothing however emblem placements,” the letter stated. “No entry to President Trump was ever supplied, and no VIP reception ever came about.”
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