Newsom Pushed White House to Bail Out SVB, Celebrated Decision without Mentioning Conflict of Interest

California governor Gavin Newsom lobbied the White House to bail out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and later celebrated the decision after it was made public, without mentioning that the firm is a backer in at least three wine companies he owns.

The Biden administration “acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system,” the governor noted in an official statement released on Monday.

“Their actions this weekend have calmed nerves, and had profoundly positive impacts on California,” Newsom added. “California is a pillar of the American economy, and federal leaders did the right thing, ensuring our innovation economy can continue to grow and move forward.”

However, The Intercept revealed Tuesday that the governor failed to note in his official remarks that at least three wineries owned by Newsom – CADE, Odette, and Plumpjack – are listed clients of SVB. Newsom further glossed over his personal banking ties with the now-defunct firm and the fact that his wife, Jennifer Siebel, was the recipient of a $100,000 charitable donation from SVB in 2021.

The potential conflict of interest did not appear to be on Newsom’s mind when the governor’s office acknowledged over the weekend that he had been in touch with the White House and was directly involved in discussions over the failing bank.

“Over the last 48 hours, I have been in touch with the highest levels of leadership at the White House and Treasury. Everyone is working with FDIC to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, to protect jobs, people’s livelihoods, and the entire innovation ecosystem that has served as a tent pole for our economy,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

“Governor Newsom’s business and financial holdings are held and managed by a blind trust, as they have been since he was first elected governor in 2018,” a spokesman representing the governor’s office said in a statement to The Intercept.

During the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, which eventually brought Newsom to the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, the candidate insisted that he would not part with the wineries. “These are my babies, my life, my family. I can’t do that. I can’t sell them,” the candidate reportedly responded following one question.

The next year, upon assuming office, Newsom established a blind trust to be run by a family friend to oversee the family’s portfolio of hotels, restaurants, and wineries.

SVB went into economic free fall last Friday as depositors rushed to pull funds from the bank triggering a run. It became the second-largest bank to experience such a fate in American history and the first since the Great Recession. More than 90 percent of depositors held above the $250,000 threshold protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.