What is Elaine Chao's net worth? How Mitch McConnell's wife used Trump ties to 'make millions' for family
Elaine Chao, former secretary of the Department of Transportation under the Trump administration, is facing a storm of criticism for her alleged involvement in abusing her power to 'make millions'. The wife of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, allegedly used her administrative position to help expand her family's shipping business that is deeply entangled with Beijing. In fact, during the four years when Chao was in the Trump cabinet, her family business grew by almost half a million dollars per day, reveals Raw Story.
A 38-page inspector general report on Chao that came out after the end of Trump administration revealed shocking findings. Multiple actions by her could be regarded as felonies under federal laws. However, Attorney General William Barr declined to criminally prosecute Elaine Chao despite the investigating inspector general's reference, Raw Story reported.
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Lie, Cheat, Steal, that should be the Republican war cry ....How Elaine Chao used her Trump cabinet post to help her family make millions - https://t.co/UuVUYQUXpe https://t.co/BDJLGD5xXG
— @paixentrenous (@kathryn69392390) April 2, 2021
How did Elaine Chao funnel millions for family business?
According to the shocking exposé by Raw Story, the fleet value of Elaine Chao's family business 'Foremost Group' stood at around half a billion dollars when she assumed office in 2017, but reached a staggering $1.18 billion by the time she left office, as estimated by shipping database VesselsValue. The Chao family company, which operates primarily between USA, Brazil, Canada, and China, flourished so much in the past few years that it donated $40 million for a building named after Elaine Chao's mother at Harvard Business School, where she was an alumna.
Elaine Chao is the daughter of James Si-Cheng Chao, a former ship captain who escaped from China following the Chinese civil war in 1948. He and his wife Ruth Mulan Chu Chao then headed to Taipei, Taiwan, where their eldest daughter Elaine was born in 1953. James Chao later arrived in New York with his family.
In 1964, he started acquiring dry bulk ships and landed his first major contract with the US government where he shipped rice to Southeast Asia at the time of the Vietnam War.
Elaine Chao does not have a stake in the family business and further committed to separate herself from her family's business interests when she took office in January 2017. But, her close ties with Trump encouraged shippers to choose the Chao family firm over competitors and attracted Chinese and Taiwanese bankers. She allegedly allowed the same to possibly inherit a second fortune from her father which could be worth tens of millions of dollars, mentions Raw Story.
In January 2017, the Chao family fleet comprised 22 vessels, which will reach 32 vessels by the summer of 2021, after selling off some of the older ships.
Following Elaine Chao's appointment to the Trump cabinet, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned institution, made a deal with Foremost Group to purchase 10 ships, effectively increasing the family fleet by 50 percent almost. Alongside, Elaine's sister Angela Chao was also appointed to the board of the state-owned Bank of China within ten days of Donald Trump's election to office. The Bank of China is a 'top lender' to the Chao family's shipping business, reports Breitbart.
What is the net worth of Elaine Chao?
Elaine Chao was the United States Secretary of Labor under the George W. Bush administration, prior to her appointment to the Trump cabinet.
In 2019, Forbes estimated Elaine Chao's net worth to be around $20 million. The amount is believed to include her inheritance of a portion of her mother's assets of $59 million after her death in 2007.
In his bestselling book 'Secret Empires', Peter Schweizer mentions how James Chao made a multimillion-dollar 'gift' to his daughter Elaine and son-in-law McConnell in 2008, which is believed to be anywhere between $5 million to $25 million. "In 2004, current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, current U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, had an average net worth of $3.1 million. Ten years later, that number had increased to somewhere between $9.2 million and $36.5 million," New York Post reported in 2018.
Elaine Chao also reportedly received $9 million from her father, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The site has estimated her present fortune to be around $30 million.