Mnuchin failed to disclose assets

From The New York Times, an article by Alan Rappeport about another rich guy, fucking up:

Steven Mnuchin, Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary, failed to disclose a hundred million dollars in assets. Mnuchin, who is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, also did not list his role as a director of an investment fund in the Cayman Islands on a questionnaire. The revelation came hours before Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, began testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, which has historically been bipartisan in its demands for transparency from nominees. Mnuchin was ready to outline his vision for the economy and defend himself against claims that he headed a bank that ran a “foreclosure machine” during the financial crisis.
“The Treasury secretary ought to be somebody who works on behalf of all Americans, including those who are still waiting for the economic recovery to show up in their communities,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “When I look at Mnuchin’s background, it’s a stretch to find evidence he’ll be that kind of Treasury secretary.”
In a hearing marked by sharp exchanges, Mnuchin struggled to answer questions about his use of tax havens as a hedge fund manager and whether he thought such loopholes should be closed.
Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, pointedly asked Mnuchin if he was using Cayman Islands corporations to avoid taxation. He responded that he was working on behalf of his clients, in accordance with the law.
“Let me just be clear again: I did not use a Cayman Islands entity in any way to avoid paying taxes for myself,” Mnuchin said. “I would love to work with the IRS to close these tax issues that make no sense.” He added: “I would support changing the tax laws to make sure they are simpler and more effective.”
Republicans came to Mnuchin’s defense, suggesting that none of his omissions were willful, and they gave strong indications that they would vote for him.
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Republican from Utah, defended Mnuchin’s business record and described him as extremely qualified for the job.
“Objectively speaking, I don’t believe anyone can reasonably argue that Mnuchin is unqualified for the position,” Hatch said. “If the confirmation process focused mainly on the question of a nominee’s qualifications, there would be little, if any, opposition to Mnuchin’s nomination.”
But the process was also focused on Mnuchin’s financial disclosure form, and that prompted intense scrutiny. “In his revised questionnaire, Mnuchin disclosed several additional financial assets, including nearly a hundred million dollars worth of real estate, including a co-op in New York City, a residence in Southampton, New York, a residence in Los Angeles, California, and fifteen million dollars in real estate holdings in Mexico”, Democratic staff members of the Senate Finance Committee wrote in a memo. “Mnuchin has claimed these omissions were due to a misunderstanding of the questionnaire.”
According to the memo, Mnuchin also initially failed to disclose that he is the director of Dune Capital International, an investment fund incorporated in the Cayman Islands, along with management posts in seven other investment funds.
And he belatedly disclosed that his children own nearly a million dollars in artwork.
Asked about the omissions at the hearing, Mnuchin described them as a simple mistake made amid a mountain of bureaucracy. “I think as you all can appreciate, filling out these government forms is quite complicated,” Mnuchin said, noting that he had handed over five thousand pages of disclosures. “Let me first say, any oversight was unintentional.”
But Democrats pounced and tied Mnuchin to Trump’s campaign pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington.
Pressed as to whether his failure to disclose the information was an ethical lapse, Mnuchin insisted that he was following the guidance of his lawyers and made an innocent error. “I assure you that these forms were very complicated,” he said, explaining that he had pledged to be forthcoming to “the best of my knowledge”.
Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, was unsatisfied with the response and shot back that “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the words ‘list all positions’.”
To that, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York, added: “Never before has the Senate considered such an ethically challenged slate of nominees for key cabinet positions. Mnuchin’s failure to disclose his Cayman Islands holdings just reeks of the swamp that the president-elect promised to drain on the campaign trail.”
And American Bridge, the so-called Democratic super PAC, said Mnuchin’s holdings were a sign that Trump’s government would not look out for working-class Americans.
“By slamming through Mnuchin, Senate Republicans are becoming accessories to Trump’s future corruption, helping him stack his cabinet with shady billionaires who, like Trump, will rig the government to serve their own interests at the expense of the American people,” said Shripal Shah, vice president of American Bridge.

Rico says that, if you have enough money, you can 'forget' about a hundred million... (Rico wishes he had the problem...) But the Treasury Secretary should have a name you can spell, much less pronounce...