Mullin reports selling 98 stocks and bonds worth $6.1 million to $13.8 million under DHS ethics agreement

By Rosalind Kerrow

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sold 98 stocks and bonds this spring to comply with the ethics agreement he signed before taking over the department, according to two periodic transaction reports filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. The sales, made between April 15 and June 10, were valued at between $6,057,098 and $13,805,000 in total, based on the ranges on the forms.

Mullin committed to the sales in a March 17 ethics agreement addressed to the department’s designated agency ethics official. The letter says its purpose is to describe the steps he would take “to avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest,” including selling the listed holdings within 90 days of confirmation. In a certification signed in late June he told OGE he had completed the required divestitures and resignations. The department’s ethics official certified both transaction reports as compliant on June 26, and OGE certified them on July 23.

The Senate confirmed Mullin, a former Oklahoma senator, 54-45 on March 23. The 90-day window ran to about June 21. The last sale on the reports is dated June 10.

What he sold

The June 24 report lists 68 sales dated May 18 to June 10, nearly all large U.S. companies, plus a New Mexico school district bond sold May 19. The June 26 report lists 30 sales on April 15 and 16, including Adobe, Amkor Technology, APi Group, Citigroup, Carpenter Technology and FirstCash.

Several of the companies do business with or are regulated by agencies the secretary oversees or works alongside, including defense contractors L3Harris and RTX and the large banks. Nothing in the filings suggests any of the sales was improper. The ethics agreement required them.

What he kept

The agreement let Mullin keep his interests in a group of family real-estate companies in Oklahoma, and the department’s ethics office found divestiture of those unnecessary. He agreed instead to recuse himself from particular matters affecting them. He resigned from positions with Mullin Family Holdco, the M8 Holdings companies, Legacy RV Resort, several Mullin Properties, Realty and Ranch companies and Mullin Plumbing New Construction, according to the agreement and his nominee financial disclosure report.

His certification adds three explanations. Citizens Bancshares stock was included as a required divestiture “in error,” he wrote. What he owns is shares of a private company, Citizens Bankshares Corp., worth under $1,000, and DHS ethics officials and OGE determined he did not have to sell them. He sold shares of a real-estate investment trust, Humphreys Fund I, to his adult child on April 22 after consulting DHS ethics and OGE, which did not require a transaction report for it. And he resigned from Allotment Services LLC and Circle 6 Rodeo LLC before confirmation. He reported no waivers.

Filing timing

Each transaction report says Mullin “received a 45 day filing extension.” The April sales were reported about 70 days after they were made, which is within the deadline as extended. Neither OGE nor the department’s ethics office noted any lateness when certifying the reports.

Why it matters

Executive branch nominees routinely sign agreements like this one, and OGE posts them along with later compliance certifications. The paperwork gives the public one of the few complete pictures of how a cabinet officer’s portfolio changed on the way into office. Senate disclosures from Mullin’s years in Congress could not be checked for this story because the Senate’s electronic disclosure site was unreachable.

The Inquisitor is requesting comment from the Department of Homeland Security press office, the Office of Government Ethics and the press office of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which held Mullin’s confirmation hearing. It is also seeking views from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Campaign Legal Center and the Project On Government Oversight. Responses will be added when received.