Perdue claimed a combined $511,800 in income from Perdue Inc., a trucking company; Houston Fertilizer & Grain Co., which manages commercial real estate in Bonaire, Ga.; and StarPort Logistics LLC. The first two companies are managed by Perdue’s children, according to Georgia records.
“Secretary Perdue has visibility into and control over the trusts and their underlying assets, and he continues to benefit from them despite the plain terms of his 2017 ethics agreement,” Evers wrote to the inspector general. The watchdogs question whether the sale of AGrowStar and Pro Ag Products was enough to quash all potential conflicts. In research shared with POLITICO, Accountable.US alleges that farm policies backed by the secretary could potentially have benefited his own or his family’s interests beyond the two agribusinesses that were sold.
Perdue’s spokesperson also rejected the watchdog groups’ request for an investigation as politically motivated. The watchdog groups are now seeking information about whether Perdue was involved in a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers — which works with USDA on some wetlands restoration efforts — to reallocate Soque River Conservation’s credits in a way that significantly increased their value.
American Oversight is now calling on the Inspector General to investigate whether Perdue “improperly participated” in any such decision, given his ethics pledge to stay out of any matters that might have a “direct and predictable effect on the financial interests” of the assets in his trusts.
Another TRUMPS PUPPET GONE BAD! VOTE BLUE ALL THE WAY
The Trump swamp makes Okefenokee look like a backyard kiddie pool....
So did this Inspector General get fired yet, or is that about to happen?
Ummm, just now they decide this is a problem?
Are you saying someone in trumps cabinet has ethics issues? I’m aghast! It’s unfathomable!
ALL these ethics and emoluments complaints are baloney! Make actual LAWS and you might be able to ENFORCE the damn things!! Although with a kangaroo SCOTUS now developing even laws may be worthless if you’re a Republican!!! They’ll cover you !!
Only the best people....
Even the squirrels in my yard know this guy is corrupt.
Gasp! An ethics scandal in the Trump Administration! What a shock!
LOL Is there ANY doubt?
This is tRump’s appointee. Conflict of interest, grift, & graft are the tRump brand. When the president* himself refuses to abide by ethics rules & norms, what do you expect from his minions?
Is white privilege so strong, that you will allow these crooks to take over our country? Just sucking all the life out of our country! Over 215k Americans have died!
Afoul? Signed with chicken scratch?
Running afowl! Haha! Imagine that! Kleptocracy with chickens.