Office of Government Ethics Guidance on Hedge Fund and Other Pooled Investment Fund Asset Reporting for Presidential Appointees

Office of Government Ethics Guidance on Hedge Fund and Other Pooled Investment Fund Asset Reporting for Presidential Appointees

December 13, 2016, Covington Alert

As the President-elect begins to nominate individuals for Senate-confirmed positions in his administration, one of the major hurdles these individuals face is the statutory requirement that the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) review and certify a public disclosure of each source of income exceeding $200 and each property interest exceeding $1,000 in value. While for many classes of assets, identifying and disclosing the relevant assets is relatively straightforward, it is often much more difficult to file a compliant report for pooled investment fund assets, such as hedge funds, since the details of the underlying assets are often undisclosed to the investor by the fund manager or subject to a confidentiality agreement between the investor and the fund manager. This client alert summarizes the most recent OGE guidance applicable to pooled investment fund holdings.