BlackRock Leadership Review: No Risks Uncovered
- Dossity
- Dec 20, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Dec 22, 2024
As you may expect of the world’s largest money managers, no risks were found.
December 20, 2024
Often the boogeyman on Reddit or TikTok, this “shadow bank” manages over 11 trillion dollars in assets. In a season of sluggish M&A activity, BlackRock managed to acquire Preqin for $3.2B, HPS for $12B, and GIP for $12.5B, all within just one year.
Their size makes them an easy target for both the left and the right. Elizabeth Warren has called for BlackRock to be included in “too big to fail” regulation and RFK Jr has accused them of outcompeting Americans for housing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and others have worked to divert assets away from BlackRock because of their ESG advocacy.
BlackRock has responded to criticism with “setting the record straight” press releases starting in 2022 and with CEO Larry Fink accusing critics of politicization and misinformation.
After co-founding BlackRock more than 37 years ago, speculation continues about who will succeed Fink and when. In 2023, he clarified he’s “not planning to leave anytime soon.”
As specialists in assessing management risks, Dossity analyzed 11 members of BlackRock's leadership across 10 risk categories:
Criminal Activity
Harassment
Litigation
Honesty
Associations
Political Exposure
Foreign Influence
Behaviors
Online Activity
Personal Finance
Despite the internet paranoia and high visibility of their roles, these BlackRock leaders maintain a low profile and no risks were found across each of Dossity's 10 risk categories. Below is a summary of our review.
Larry Fink
Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO
No risks were found for Larry Fink.
Fink describes himself as a “lifelong Democrat” and the majority of his political contributions have gone to Democrats. He reportedly had been interested in and recommended for the role of Treasury Secretary in previous administrations.
In 2016, Fink joined Trump’s advisory committee but resigned months later following Trump’s response to the rally in Charlottesville, VA. Trump reacted negatively to the various executive resignations, calling them “grandstanders.”
Fink was an early leader in the sale of CMOs (collateralized mortgage obligations.) Of course, this was decades ago but may still carry a negative association for the public.
Rob Kapito
Co-Founder/President
No risks were found for Rob Kapito, however, there are some interesting associations:
A 2024 lawsuit mentioned Kapito's connection to an activist hedge fund take-over of Masimo, a health tech company: "...coordinated efforts to seize control of the Company with allies...including BlackRock...the president of which, Rob Kapito, is the father of Politan co-founder Aaron Kapito...before the 2024 annual meeting, BlackRock acquired millions of additional shares of Defendant’s stock, making it the largest single stockholder with approximately 16% of the Company’s public shares.”
Not much has been said of the father-son connection apart from a tweet from Steve Forbes in September 2024: "...Are there any relationships between BlackRock leadership and Politan Capital?" Forbes also mentioned, they're "...encouraging shareholders to throw control of an innovative company from its founding leadership to a 3-year-old hedge fund..." and "These candidates have no experience in running a med tech company..."
In 2022, Kapito received pushback after speaking at an oil & gas conference. There he described young people experiencing inflation as a "very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice." Media reactions included: “Kapito made $22M last year, putting him in the top 1/10th of the richest 1% of Americans” and “Ok, boomer.”
Kapito was the largest single investor behind the creation of the Sports Museum of America in 2008. He told the press, "We’re going to look to make sure that we’re donating to charity ... because the investors here didn’t just invest for a good return. They invested because they made their money -- a lot of them -- in the Wall Street area. They wanted to give back.” “I think the average return here would be a 3-to-5 year return, but the commitment from the investors is to really plow money back in here.” The sports museum filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with $177M in debt, less than a year after opening.
The appointed bankruptcy trustee alleged in a complaint against Kapito that he and the other directors took “handsome" salaries and used corporate credit cards for meals, groceries, clothing, travel and leisure. All while they were aware of substantial debt and operating losses. The trustee claimed the process was dysfunctional and “ran $100M into the ground, while enriching themselves, including by the transfers at the expense of the debtors and their creditors…totaling at least $1,495,000…”
At First Boston, Kapito was also involved with Fink in selling CMOs (collateralized mortgage obligations.) As mentioned above, this isn’t a risk factor but perhaps a negative association for some of the broader public.
Rob Goldstein
COO
No risks were found for Rob Goldstein.
A few negative BlackRock reviews on Glassdoor mention Goldstein's role as Chief Operating Officer: “The CEO and COO are behaving like monarchs and making decisions on everything without getting consensus of the employees." …"Sometimes short-sighted by COO"...”Get rid of obsolete/underperforming VPs and Directors in sales, strategy, operations, COO."...”Like a club…if Larry and Rob like you life is good. If not keep that resume handy. Lots of turnover.” Of course, a handful of reviews out of nearly 7,000 are far from a theme.
Goldstein's hobbies include birdwatching, a behavior not among Dossity’s key risk factors.
Martin Small
CFO
No risks were found for Martin Small.
Mark Wiedman
Head - Global Client Business
No risks were found for Mark Wiedman, apart from the media’s past allegations of harassment.
In 2016, Wiedman violated SEC’s “pay-to-play” rule by donating $2,700 to Ohio Governor John Kasich’s presidential campaign. The donation was returned to Wiedman and BlackRock claims they worked quickly to address the issue. If the SEC hadn’t allowed an exemption, BlackRock was at risk of losing $37M in fees from Ohio’s BlackRock-managed funds.
Wiedman began his career in government, working for various federal agencies and he briefly worked and studied in China and Taiwan. He currently serves on the board of the National Committee on US-China Relations.
Rich Kushel
Head - Portfolio Management Group
No risks were found for Rich Kushel.
In 2023, Kushel was a spokesperson for BlackRock’s “setting-the-record-straight” initiative. He addressed accusations of “boycotting” oil & gas companies, demonstrating their investment in both renewable and traditional energy.
Kushel is the Global Executive Committee sponsor of the firm’s Black Professionals Network.
Samara Cohen
CIO - ETF & Index Investments
No risks were found for Samara Cohen.
Cohen is a more visible figure at BlackRock, speaking regularly at events, panels and podcasts.
She is a vocal proponent of crypto.
Her husband also works at an investment advisory firm, as Managing Partner of Caspian Capital, but no conflicts of interest were found.
Cohen is Co-Head of BlackRock’s DEI Steering Committee and sponsor of Women’s Initiative & Allies Network.
Cohen is open about religion and culture being core to her identity, celebrating her Rabbi’s (Elliot Cosgrove) influence on her family in a LinkedIn post on BlackRock’s interfaith panel event.
Rick Rieder
CIO - Global Fixed Income
No risks were found for Rick Rieder.
Rieder is frequently in the media discussing BlackRock and the markets.
Adebayo Ogunlesi
Chairman/CEO - GIP
Sr Managing Director & Board Member - BlackRock
No risks were found for Adebayo Ogunlesi, however there are some interesting associations:
BlackRock acquired Ogunlesi’s company, Global Infrastructure Partners in 2024 for $12.5B.
As mentioned above, Ogunlesi was among executives appointed to President Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in 2016.
Over the past few decades, Ogunlesi and his family contributed over $1.75M to politicians, almost exclusively to the Democrat party. He likely is the largest political contribution of BlackRock's executive team.
Both of Ogunlesi’s sons work in the entertainment industry. Adebayo himself, was listed as a manager for 300 Entertainment LLC, behind rappers like Gunna, BSlime, Snot and Megan Thee Stallion. His son Geoff also worked at 300, managing rapper Young Thug (aka SEX) before he created Young Stoner Life Records. Young Thug was released from jail in 2024 after pleading guilty to charges of criminal street gang activity, possession of drugs, and an illegally modified machine gun. He has also been previously accused of battery and other illegal firearm and drug possession charges.
Geoff Ogunelsi gave Young Thug 100 acres of land as a birthday present, where the rapper planned to build “Slime City.” Geoff began popping up in tabloids in 2024 with headlines like, “Tobey Maguire’s Ex-Wife Jennifer Meyer Engaged To Nigerian Billionaire Heir.” He reportedly gave her a $500k engagement ring.
Geoff appears to have been in the alcohol industry with ownership in entities like Drink Daizzzy, Slatt Pops and Tog Spirits. He also runs a fashion brand called King Spider.
He was sued by a fraternity in 2012 but the details are unknown as documents were sealed. The suit occurred around this Amherst post and so may be related.
Murry Gerber
Lead Independent Director
No risks were found for Murry Gerber, however, there is one potential concern:
An unconfirmed LinkedIn account (created in 2013) matching the name, face, career and education history of BlackRock’s Lead Independent Director wrote some interesting comments between 2019-2024:
2024 on a post about the European perspective of US elections: “Who cares what those useless failing Europeans think. They are going to freeze in the dark.”
2024 on a post about carbon footprint and net-zero commitments: “Stop”
2024 on an image of engravings on a firearm: “I’ve seen this gun. Classic. Elegant.”
2024 on a post about energy sustainability and transition: “Leave people alone.”
2020 on news regarding climate change: “Piss off you idiots. CV is a real problem. The earth is fine”
2019 on news regarding civil rights activist, Colin Kaepernick and Nike: “Idiots.”
The account also reacted with a "like" to several interesting posts:
Gerber has been involved in a few legal cases over the years. In 2021 he was in court with the city over a building permit. In 2019 he was sued by his neighbor. In 2016 his step-son’s friend sued for an injury that happened on his property. In 2011 he foreclosed upon an organization that he had mortgaged property to. Gerber divorced his 1st wife in 2003, his 2nd wife in 2009, his 3rd in 2018 and has remarried since. His 4th wife (32 years his junior) is CFO of one of his businesses.
Gerber owns firearm-related businesses, L&B-Elite Shotguns, LLC, Elite Shooting Sports, LLC and Vero Beach Clay Shooting Sports / Indian River Trap & Skeet Club.
Cheryl Mills
Founder and CEO of BlackIvy Group
Board Member - BlackRock
No risks were found for Cheryl Mills.
Mills is broadly remembered for her political career working closely with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In 1999 she defended President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. Throughout Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and her time as US Secretary of State, Mills was among Clinton’s closest advisors as counselor and chief of staff.
She’s also known for testifying in the Clinton email scandal in 2013 and the attack on Americans in Benghazi in 2012.
There were accusations of overlapping commitments regarding Mills’ work at NYU and on the Clinton Foundation’s board while beginning at the State Department. There was controversy in 2013 when Mills joined BlackRock’s board, prior to Hillary’s 2016 campaign. Blackrock CEO Larry Fink seems to value Mills' influence and connections, describing her as having “served at the highest levels of government for nearly two decades."
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This information is from sources deemed to be true and reliable, but Dossity makes no representations of the same. All questions or comments should be sent to info@dossity.com.
Dossity provides deep, investigative diligence research for clients to uncover management risk. We balance automation with human analyst review, open source intelligence with proprietary databases and secondary with primary research. Dossity analyzes claims, behavior, communications, associations, influence and more to go beyond background reports and secure clients’ investments and reputations. To learn more, visit Dossity.com.