“National Labor Relations Board member William Emanuel, a Republican appointed by former President Donald Trump, recently was questioned by the U.S. Justice Department,” according to a new report from Bloomberg, and these questions concerned “allegations from the NLRB inspector general that [Emanuel] participated in five labor law cases involving a company or companies in which he owned stock,” the same outlet explains. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) handles certain disputes between employers and employees, and clearly, for Emanuel to have had literal financial stakes in certain companies whose dealings came before the board in some capacity poses a possibility for a serious conflict of interest.
According to Bloomberg, Attorney General Merrick Garland has decided not to move forward with the case against Emanuel, which leaves dealing with next steps — like what to do about the outcomes of those contested cases — to the board itself. Emanuel said as part of a defense for himself that he’d never been “aware of the names of the many individual stocks held in these sector mutual funds,” meaning he appears to be claiming ignorance, essentially. Emanuel also said that his financial adviser “immediately sold these sector mutual funds” once the controversial labor board member was alerted to the problem. It’s not immediately clear whether Emanuel has specific evidence to support the idea that he was unaware of his investments (apparently made through mutual funds) in those companies that came before the board.
There’s not yet any apparent public indication as to which companies and labor board cases are actually at issue, and a spokesperson for the law firm representing Emanuel claims that neither Emanuel nor anyone representing him spoke with the Justice Department. Sources for Bloomberg, who the outlet does not publicly identify, insist otherwise, with one saying that the Justice Department’s choice to not move forward with a case against Emanuel was tied to his “cooperation.” Meanwhile, Democrats are actually set to take control of the National Labor Relations Board on Saturday of this week when the second nominee for the panel from President Biden is sworn in. Read more at this link.
