Topline
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, widely recognized for the devastating loss of two-thirds of his workforce and his brother during the 9/11 attacks, has significantly expanded his personal wealth since joining Trump’s Cabinet. Yet beyond his widely publicized 9/11 narrative, Lutnick has cultivated a contentious reputation on Wall Street for aggressive self-dealing that has come at the expense of partners and employees alike.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks to the press following the G20 Innovation Ministerial at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on September 2, 2026. (Photo by Matt RAMEY / AFP via Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Prior to his appointment as commerce secretary, Lutnick served as longtime CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm that lost all 658 of its 960 employees stationed in the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks — including Lutnick’s closest friend Doug and his younger brother Gary.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Lutnick rebuilt Cantor Fitzgerald, scaling the firm to 12,000 employees, and established The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.
Lutnick frequently recounts his 9/11 story, and President Donald Trump, who has maintained a long-standing relationship with Lutnick, described him as “the embodiment of resilience in the face of unspeakable tragedy” upon announcing his nomination for commerce secretary — but his 9/11 narrative is not his sole defining trait in financial circles, where a former partner once labeled him “the most hated guy on Wall Street” in a Forbes interview.
Since joining Trump’s Cabinet, Lutnick and his family’s net worth has more than doubled to approximately $7.3 billion, per Forbes estimates, driven largely by his indirect stake in Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, through his 55% ownership of Cantor Fitzgerald.
That stake is valued at an estimated $5.4 billion, up from $1.7 billion in early 2025, while the remainder of Lutnick’s fortune derives from holdings in publicly traded firms BGC Group, an electronic trading brokerage, and Newmark Group, a commercial real estate company.
Lutnick stepped down as CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald upon joining the Cabinet and transferred his stake into trusts for his adult children, overseen by his second-eldest son Brandon Lutnick, who assumed the roles of CEO and chairman.
Lutnick also divested his shares in BGC Group and Newmark back to the companies; his most recent Federal Election Commission filing shows he received $190 million in distributions from those buybacks.
CONTRA
According to the Commerce Department, the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund has donated $180 million to families of colleagues killed on 9/11, and Lutnick has personally contributed more than $100 million to victims of terrorism, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
What’s behind Lutnick’s reputation as “the most hated guy on Wall Street”?
Lutnick has earned a reputation for aggressively extracting value from partners and employees alike. His partnership agreements reportedly spanned hundreds of pages and granted him broad authority to withhold payments from departing partners. A 2023 federal lawsuit alleged that roughly 40% of Lutnick’s partners did not receive full compensation upon leaving, Forbes previously reported. Lutnick also had a bitter falling out with the family of his longtime mentor, Bernie Cantor, the founder of Cantor Fitzgerald who hired Lutnick two years out of college and elevated him to day-to-day management by age 30. When Cantor’s health deteriorated, Lutnick activated an incapacity committee that voted to strip Cantor of control of the firm. Cantor’s wife, Iris, one of the committee’s two abstaining voters, subsequently barred Lutnick from visiting her husband’s grave. In 2021, Lutnick reportedly demanded that Newmark’s board compensation committee award him a $50 million bonus for facilitating Newmark’s acquisition of BGC’s Nasdaq shares. When shareholders filed suit challenging the payout, the committee delayed consideration, and Lutnick reportedly expressed displeasure. He ultimately received the $50 million bonus, structured as payments over four years.
Key Background
Lutnick and Trump have a longstanding relationship. Lutnick once resided in a Trump Palace apartment before purchasing the townhouse adjacent to Jeffrey Epstein’s property. (Through a spokesperson, Lutnick denied any association with Epstein to Forbes in 2024, despite later acknowledging visits to Epstein’s private island.) Lutnick also appeared on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008. The Trump Organization hired Newmark to broker the sale of its Washington, D.C., hotel. Upon Trump’s re-election, Lutnick was tapped to co-chair the transition team. In nominating him for commerce secretary, Trump praised Lutnick as “a dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years” and highlighted his contributions to 9/11 families.
Additional reporting by Dan Alexander and John Hyatt.
