Nepo Baby, DJ (Don Jr), Profits Off Daddy's Name

Sep 9, 2025 10:49 PM EDT, Tue

Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 venture fund poses new conflicts of interest

Trump’s family has financial interests in industries that the president can influence dramatically. That’s a problem.

Sept. 8, 2025, 7:37 PM EDT By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor

The list of the Trump administration’s flagrant conflicts of interest just got longer: A new Reuters report says a venture fund that has largely flown under the radar has exploded in size since Donald Trump Jr. joined as a partner and Donald Trump was again elected president in 2024.

According to Reuters, 1789 Capitol — a reference to the year the Constitution went into effect — was once a “niche experiment that aimed to align equity investing with conservative political values.” Last year the fund was managing around $150 million in assets. But after Trump Jr. joined the fund as a partner and Trump was re-elected, its assets have multiplied to over $1 billion.

The law is often an inadequate safeguard against the kinds of conflicts of interest that threaten the integrity of public policymaking.

Reuters, citing financial records and interviews with people close to the firm, reports that 1789 Capitol’s portfolio has expanded to include “defense contractors, artificial intelligence AI startups and other companies that ethics experts say could benefit from federal contracts and regulatory changes.” Its recent deals include investments in Elon Musk’s companies SpaceX, xAI and Neuralink. Reuters notes that the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and policy shifts have “benefited at least three companies backed by 1789 Capitol. However, Reuters could not determine whether 1789’s investments — or any negotiations preceding them — played a role in those outcomes.”

A representative for Trump Jr. denied a conflict of interest surrounding 1789 Capitol to Reuters. “Don Jr. is a lifelong businessman who has no role inside the government, no decision making power in the government and has never held a government job,” the representative said. There’s no evidence that 1789 Capitol has violated any laws or received preferential treatment.

But it’s important to remember that the law is often an inadequate safeguard against the kinds of conflicts of interest that threaten the integrity of public policymaking.

That the president’s son is a partner at a venture firm that invests in companies that the White House has influence over creates a number of possible threats to the democratic process. Trump Jr.’s involvement raises the question of whether investors in the fund will see 1789 Capitol as yet another way to curry favor with the Trump family, or even just get on their radar. There’s also the question of whether Trump would be more inclined than he already would be to deregulate, give tax breaks to or show any other kind of favorable treatment to an industry or a company he believed could make the Trump family more prosperous.

Conflicts of interest make it impossible to pin down how much policy decision-making is influenced by personal or familial financial interests. But regardless of what’s happening behind closed doors, the effect is that it opens the door for inappropriate behavior.

Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden set a poor example in this realm. During Biden’s time as vice president, Hunter Biden earned $50,000 a month for sitting on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma even though he lacked substantive qualifications, which made it all but certain that he was trading on his surname to get the cushy gig.

However, the Trump family’s conflicts of interest dwarf those of all the presidential families that came before. Between the Trump Organization’s ongoing international real estate deals, Truth Social, Trump’s cryptocurrency business, meme coin venture and his relentless merchandise rollouts, Trump has created a kind of empire of conflicts of interest. Taken in the aggregate, we don’t need some kind of smoking gun evidence to be concerned. The existence of this sprawling network of businesses tied to the presidency is in and of itself proof that something has gone horribly wrong.

Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MSNBC Daily. Previously, he worked at Vox, HuffPost and Politico, and he has also been published in, among other places, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Intercept. You can sign up for his free politics newsletter here.

1789 Capital
Omeed Malik — 1789 Capital
Founder & Partner
Omeed Malik is the President of 1789 Capitol, a growth equity investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Growth (“EIG”) economy. Omeed is also the Founder and CEO of Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to venture backed businesses and institutional investors and he is the Chairman and CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp II, a publicly traded Special Purpose Acquisition Company listed on the NYSE. He was the Chairman and CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp I, that successfully merged with Public Square Holdings.

Prior to starting his own firm, Omeed was a Managing Director and the Global Head of the Hedge Fund Advisory Business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Omeed was also the founder and head of the Emerging Manager Program within the Global Equities business. In this capacity, Omeed was charged with selecting both established and new hedge funds for the firm to partner with and oversaw the allocation of financing/prime brokerage, capital strategy,business consulting and talent introduction resources.

Before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Omeed was a Senior Vice President at MF Global where he helped reorganize the firm’s distribution platform globally and developed execution and clearing relationships with institutional clients.

An experienced financial services professional and securities attorney, Omeed was a corporate lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP working on transactional matters in the capital markets, corporate governance, private equity and bankruptcy fields. Omeed has also worked in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Omeed received a JD, with Honors, from Emory Law School (where he serves on the Advisory Board) and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science, Cum Laude, from Colgate University. He holds Series 7, 63, 3, 79 and 24 registrations.

Omeed serves on the board of directors of Fannie Mae.
Christopher Buskirk — 1789 Capital
Founder & CIO
Chris has founded, built, and successfully sold multiple finance businesses including in insurance, reinsurance, specialty lending, and tax-credit financing. He is the founder and principal of Buskirk Capital, a family investment firm which led to the formation of 1789 Capitol where he is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer. For over 15 years he has been a successful investor in growth stages companies with particular interest and experience in financial services, DeFi/Crypto, defense tech, reindustrialization and media.

He is also the co-founder with Vice President-Elect JD Vance of The Rockbridge Network, an organization of leading founders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investors, and families working together to build new institutions that will increase American security and prosperity and inaugurate the next American Golden Age. He is an author and frequent speaker having written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, and others and speaking in variety of formats ranging from The Aspen Ideas Festival to a lecture in Brasilia to the Brazilian Foreign Service.

He is a graduate of Claremont-McKenna College, an avid outdoorsman, and sought out speaker. He is the author of “America & The Art of the Possible: Restoring National Vitality In An Age of Decay” (Encounter Books: 2023), a book that describes the problems undermining American prosperity and, more important, describing some ideas about how to restore American growth and sustainable, broadly shared affluence.
Don Trump Jr — 1789 Capital
Partner
Donald Trump, Jr. is a partner at 1789 focused on new investment origination, capital raising and strategy. His breadth of relationships across the corporate and investor landscape affords significant reach to 1789’s global network.

Don also serves as an Executive Vice President of Development Acquisitions at The Trump Organization. He directs new project acquisition and development for The Trump Organization worldwide. Mr. Trump actively oversees The Trump Organization’s current and new property portfolio, which contains over 70 projects. He is involved in real estate development, from deal evaluation, analysis and pre-development planning to construction, branding, marketing, operations, sales and leasing.

Since 2024, Mr. Trump has served as Director of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (NASDAQ: DJT) and as a Director at Public Square Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PSQH).

Mr. Trump is an accomplished and sought-after speaker who has spoken extensively throughout the United States and has given keynote speeches internationally, notably in Dubai and India.

Mr. Trump received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance & Real Estate from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rebekah Mercer — 1789 Capital
Founder
Rebekah has actively contributed to, and collaborated with, conservative causes and organizations, including Breitbart News, and serves on the boards of the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institute and is chairman of the board of both the Government Accountability Institute, and the RAM Veterans Foundation. Rebekah’s philanthropy and investment is driven by a profound devotion to America’s foundational values of rule of law, separation of powers, limited government, federalism, and the protection of individual rights with a particular focus on open-minded inquiry as an essential component of scientific research and societal advancement.

Most recently she helped to found Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy.

She is a graduate from Stanford with a dual BS in Biological Sciences and Mathematics and an MS in Operations Research and Engineering Economic Systems.
Paul Abrahimzadeh — 1789 Capital
Partner
Paul Abrahimzadeh joined 1789 Capitol as a partner following a 24 year career in investment banking. Paul is a recognized leader in finance with a track record of transformative deals, brings deep expertise in global capital markets.

At 1789 he is focused on new investment origination, deal structuring, capital raising and strategic initiatives.

The entirety of his investment banking career was spent at Citigroup advising corporate clients, financial sponsors, and institutional investors on some of the most complex and high-profile transactions in the industry. Most recently Paul served as the bank’s Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets in North America. Prior to that he served as the firm’s Head of Equity Capital Markets Syndicate in the Americas, overseeing new issue execution - covering all sectors, regions and products - including the firm’s multi-billion dollar risk trade business.

His career has spanned every sector and product across the public and private equity capital markets, having led >1,000 offerings during his career. Over the past 8 years, Paul spent considerable time covering tech companies across all key verticals including AI, software, internet, fintech, semiconductors, digital infrastructure and tech services. His list of notable deals spans jumbo offerings such as the largest private raise in history (Ant Financial’s $14bn pre-IPO round) to recent IPOs for high growth companies including Klaviyo, iBotta and Service Titan.

Paul graduated from Colgate University with a B.A. in International Relations, Cum Laude, and a minor in Japanese.

He holds Series 7, 63, 79 & 24 registrations.
Joe Voboril — 1789 Capital
Joe Voboril is a Partner and Head of Research at 1789 Capitol, a growth equity investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Growth (“EIG”) economy.

Joe is also the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to high growth venture backed companies and institutional investors. He is also the Chief Financial Officer of Colombier Acquisition Corp II, a SPAC that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under symbol: CLBR.

Prior to Farvahar and Colombier, Joe spent 15 years at hedge funds in roles of investment analyst, portfolio manager, and Chief Investment Officer. He has made hundreds of public market investments to then construct and risk-manage equity portfolios. Joe has actively managed hedge fund strategies spanning from multi-strategy, equity long/short, and short-only equities.

At Bank of America Joe co-created the Hedge Fund Advisory group, lead the bank’s Separately Managed Account (SMA) Initiative, and managed the internal vetting effort of investment managers for Bank of America’s exclusive Emerging Manager Program.

Joe is a graduate of Colgate University with a double-major in Philosophy (honors) and Political Science.
Jordan Cohen — 1789 Capital
Partner & COO
Jordan Cohen is a partner and the Chief Operating Officer at 1789 Capitol, overseeing the firm’s day to day processes, managing legal and finance functions, identifying high-potential investment opportunities, structuring transactions and driving operational efficiency to enhance firm and portfolio success.

Jordan is also a Partner at Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer that advises high growth venture backed companies across numerous complex capital formation strategies. He is also the Chief Operating Officer of Colombier Acquisition Corp II, a SPAC that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under symbol: CLBR

Prior to joining Farvahar, Jordan was the Managing Director of Sierra Bonita Holdings, a Los Angeles based family office whereby Jordan was responsible for evaluating, structuring, and managing a multi-strategy portfolio concentrated in TMT and Consumer. An entrepreneur by nature, Jordan 24+ years of investment, legal and strategic brand building experience.

Jordan started his career as a corporate lawyer at Weil Gotshal & Manges.

He received a JD with Honors, from Emory University School of Law and a BSM in Finance, Magna Cum Laude from Tulane University.
Andy Nasser — 1789 Capital
Partner
Andy Nasser is a Partner at 1789 Capitol, where he leads the firm’s investment review process for several technology-enabled sectors. Andy has evaluated hundreds of investment opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including software, mobility, defense, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, industrial technology, energy storage, data analytics, education technology, social networking, digital marketplaces, and payment processing. He also serves as Chief Investment Officer of Colombier Acquisition Corp II (NYSE: CLBR), a publicly traded SPAC.

In addition to his role at 1789 Capitol, Andy is a Partner at Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and FINRA-registered broker-dealer that advises and provides liquidity solutions to high-growth, venture-backed companies and institutional investors.

Previously, Andy led business development for the Churchill Capital franchise at M. Klein and Company, a merchant bank and strategic advisory firm, where he was instrumental in target sourcing, transaction execution, and capital raising for five blank check vehicles. His work supported marquee transactions with companies such as Lucid Motors, Clarivate, and PublicSquare.

Earlier in his career, Andy was part of Citigroup’s TMT investment banking group, and worked as a financial consultant at Deloitte.

Andy holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a B.Sc. in Management from Boston College, with concentrations in Finance and Accounting. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, holds FINRA Series 79 and 63 registrations, and previously held a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license.

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