Allegations Focus on Lutnick Family Profits From Tariff Refund Claims

Allegations circulating Tuesday claim that Cantor Fitzgerald, now run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's sons Brandon and Kyle, bought tariff refund claims from companies at about 20 to 30 cents on the dollar and could now redeem them at full value as tariff refunds are processed. The claim says the firm told clients it had capacity to trade up to several hundred million dollars of such claims and had already executed at least one $10 million trade by July 2025.

The allegations contend that the strategy could generate roughly three- to fivefold returns and raise conflict-of-interest questions because Howard Lutnick had publicly backed the tariff policy before leaving Cantor Fitzgerald to his sons and transferring his equity into a trust benefiting them.