U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. File
| Picture Credit score: AP
A dealer for U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to make an enormous funding in main protection corporations within the weeks main as much as the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, the Monetary Instances reported on Monday (March 30, 2026), citing three folks accustomed to the matter.
Mr. Hegseth’s dealer at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February, about making a multimillion-dollar funding in the asset supervisor’s Defence Industrials Energetic ETF, shortly earlier than the U.S. launched navy motion towards Tehran, the report added.
In accordance with the FT report, the funding mentioned by Mr. Hegseth’s dealer didn’t in the end go forward because the fund, which launched in Might final yr, was not but accessible for Morgan Stanley shoppers to purchase.
The FT report didn’t say how a lot discretion the dealer needed to make investments on Mr. Hegseth’s behalf, or whether or not he knew what the dealer was doing.
Pentagon says report ‘false, fabricated’
The Pentagon on Monday (March 30, 2026) mentioned a Monetary Instances report was incorrect and demanded a retraction.
“This allegation is totally false and fabricated,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell mentioned on X.
The report on the funding try comes amid a wider scrutiny of trades made in monetary and prediction markets forward of U.S. President Donald Trump’s main coverage selections.
A few of these selections have been preceded by well-timed bets, main some consultants to lift questions on whether or not data had in some way leaked forward of time.
Printed – March 31, 2026 10:29 am IST