A joint investigation by the House committees on Oversight and Veterans’ Affairs found that three members of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort improperly influenced decisions at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the committee chairs announced on Monday.
Those accused included Ike Perlmutter, CEO emeritus of Marvel Entertainment, who was alleged to have along with the others formed an advisory committee to manage VA policy and frequently interacted with VA employees while improperly shielding their activities from oversight.
In a news release, Oversight Committee chairwoman Rep Carolyn Maloney and Veterans’ Affairs chair Rep Mark Takano alleged that the three men “violated the law and sought to exert improper influence over government officials to further their own personal interests.”
Ike Perlmutter, Marc Sherman, and Dr Bruce Moskowitz played a “secret role” in VA decision-making, including “developing VA initiatives and programs…[such as] a ‘hugely profitable’ plan to monetize veterans’ medical records”, the committee chairs wrote.
Emails obtained by the committee between Dr Moskowitz and then-VA Secretary David Shulkin revealed that the group was taking active efforts to hide their activities, a move that would prove problematic after a DC appeals court ruled in 2021 that the group constituted an official federal advisory committee under law and was subject to records and transparency requirements.
“We are still unsure what can be put in emails and what to discuss verbally,” Dr Moskowitz wrote to Mr Shulkin in February of 2017, just weeks after Mr Trump took office and the group was founded.
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