Omid Malik, CEO of Columbia Acquisition Corp, New York Stock Exchange, June 17, 2021.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently running for president, has another wealthy backer in veteran Wall Street executive Omid Malik.
Last month, Mr. Malik took Mr. Kennedy to a lavish private dinner at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and chatted with political figures, according to people familiar with the matter.
Attendees at the dinner, which was held concurrently with the SCALE Global Business Summit, included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Former Treasury Secretary Summers, Democratic big donor Mark Lasry, according to people familiar with the matter.
Many of the participants listed As a speaker at the summit. A spokesperson for Mr. Cohn confirmed that Mr. Cohn attended the banquet, which included many of the summit’s speakers. Representatives for Kennedy, Clinton, Pompeo, Summers and Lasry did not respond to requests for comment about the dinner. A spokesperson for Johnson could not be reached.
These people said Mr. Kennedy was not pitching himself as a candidate, but Mr. Kennedy’s attendance at the dinner party despite publicly promoting a number of conspiracy theories such as: Instead, it points to another way to increase Mr. Kennedy’s presence in the political discourse. Vaccines debunked. Officials declined to discuss private considerations or conversations.
Still, the dinner had the election on the minds of the attendees. Some people, including Clinton, suggested that President Joe Biden’s age could be a hurdle for voters to ignore, the people said. Another person said Clinton also supported Biden during his presidency.she Before At a Financial Times event in May, he said Mr. Biden’s “age matters. People have a right to consider it.” Biden will turn 82 right after next year’s general election, while former President Donald Trump will turn 78 in November 2024.
Kennedy is also picking up some support in polls that will challenge Biden in the Democratic primary. Quinnipiac in June poll Biden has 70% support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, while Kennedy has been shown to have 17% support among the same demographic.
Popularity is part of that. Kennedy is the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during the 1968 presidential campaign, and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, who was shot dead in 1963.
Malik, meanwhile, joins other wealthy donors in supporting Kennedy. Venture capitalist David Sachs and fellow tech leader Chamas Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Kennedy earlier this month, it reported. Parihapitiya’s tweet. “The voter turnout was fantastic,” the tweet said, adding that the attendees were Democrats, Republicans and independents. Another person with direct knowledge of the matter said the event raised about $500,000 for Kennedy’s campaign. Kennedy has also been a guest on the Saks and Palihapitiya podcasts.
Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk recently hosted Kennedy on his Twitter space. Malik also joined the discussion. Musk said last year that he was leaning toward endorsing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a presidential candidate. He then hosted a glitched Twitter space when a Florida Republican announced his candidacy for president.
Malik gets ready for fundraiser
Malik will also host a Kennedy campaign fundraiser at the posh Hamptons in July, people familiar with the matter said. CNBC also considered an invitation to the Sag Harbor rally. Malik’s name is not listed in the invitation, but it says the event will include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a dinner that includes an interview with Kennedy.
Tickets for the rally cost $6,600, the highest amount an individual donor can contribute directly to the campaign. Half is often donated to the reserve account and the other half to the general campaign fund pool.
A Hamptons event for DeSantis, hosted by Malik, is also in the works in July, one of the people said.
A spokeswoman for the DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Malik himself donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle. He donated to DeSantis for reelection in 2022, as well as during Biden’s campaign in 2020 and Donald Trump’s failed second run for the White House, according to data from the bipartisan OpenSecret. also donated.
Malik was managing director at Bank of America until 2018, before the following controversy was reported. according to Contributing to the New York Post led to an eight-figure settlement with the company he won.
Since then, Malik has built his own lane on Wall Street with two firms, 1789 Capital and Farvahar Partners.
post report Through 1789 Capital, Malik is launching a new fund called EIG (Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship).
The $150 million fund will include major Republican donor Rebecca Mercer, who helped fund Breitbart and later Cambridge Analytica, and former Republican investor Peter Thiel, according to the paper. Former Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, who worked under him, is said to be backing.
