Howard Lutnick used to run Cantor Fitzgerald. He moved from running a Wall Street firm to holding a top position inside the US government, directly involved in trade and economic policy.
After he stepped down, his sons took control of Cantor. Now here is where it gets serious.
Last year, when Trump imposed massive #Tariffs under emergency powers, companies across the US paid billions in duties. Many of those tariffs were being challenged in court.
Cantor reportedly offered companies cash in exchange for the rights to any future tariff refunds. Not full value but 20 to 30 cents on the dollar.
If a company had a $100 million refund claim, they could take $20-30 million immediately and hand over the full claim.
Why would anyone buy that?
Because if the courts later cancel those tariffs, whoever owns the claim collects the full amount.
Now fast forward.
The Supreme Court blocked key emergency tariffs. That means those refund claims just became real money. So ask the obvious question:
How did a firm run by the Commerce Secretary’s sons build a trade around the legal collapse of tariffs imposed by the same administration?
Did they have special information?
Did they understand the legal risk better than everyone else?
Did they see something coming?
No one is saying a crime has been proven. But this is exactly how insider style advantages work.
You don’t need to trade on a secret memo.
You just need early visibility into policy direction, legal weakness, or political signals that regular investors don’t have.
Howard Lutnick is not a random person. He sits inside the government. His family firm structured a trade directly tied to the legal survival of tariffs created by that government.
Regular Americans paid higher prices because of those tariffs.
Companies struggled.
Meanwhile, a politically connected firm set up a position that could pay out 3 to 5 times the money if the courts ruled against those tariffs.
Even if this was technically allowed, the structure is clear:
Government imposes policy.
Policy creates uncertainty.
Connected firm monetizes the uncertainty.
Court rules.
Trade pays out.
When government decisions become investment opportunities for people tied to power, the system stops looking fair. This is exactly why trust in Washington keeps collapsing.
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