Trump adviser resigned ahead of negative magazine story
By Associated Press August 19 at 4:04 PM
WASHINGTON — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who resigned Friday from an unpaid post as President Donald Trump’s adviser on deregulation efforts, stepped down as The New Yorker was preparing to publish a lengthy article detailing Icahn’s potential conflicts of interest and questioning the legality of his actions.
Icahn said in a letter to Trump released Friday that he would resign to prevent “partisan bickering” about his role that Democrats suggested could benefit him financially.
The resignation came just three days before The New Yorker was scheduled to post its story online and begin selling printed magazines on newsstands. In the story, the magazine points out potential conflicts and even possible criminal law violations involving obscure rules that require oil refineries to blend ethanol into gasoline.
In his letter, Icahn wrote that he “never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest.” But The New Yorker wrote that in 2012, Icahn, who made his name and fortune as a corporate raider, bought an 82 percent stake in CVR Energy, a Sugar Land, Texas, refinery. To comply with regulations designed to promote use of ethanol, refiners must blend the renewable fuel with their gasoline or buy credits from other refiners that are called “Renewable Identification Numbers.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/trump-adviser-resigned-ahead-of-negative-magazine-story/2017/08/19/a087dd6c-8510-11e7-9e7a-20fa8d7a0db6_story.html?utm_term=.6e310dc9de65&wpisrc=nl_az_most&wpmk=1
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