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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has put much of his multi-million dollar portfolio of investments and business interests into a blind trust, fulfilling a campaign promise intended to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Moore, a Democrat, is a first-time elected official after having a diverse career that included investment banking, military service, founding a for-profit education company, leading a large nonprofit organization and publishing books. Along the way, he was appointed to corporate boards, got involved in business ventures and amassed investments — all presenting a minefield of potential conflicts of interest.
To insulate him from making government decisions that could affect his personal finances, Moore resigned from corporate boards after he was elected in November and also pledged to put his assets into a blind trust.
Now Moore has put $2.54 million worth of investments into a blind trust that will be managed by Brown Advisory, a Baltimore-based financial firm, according to state documents.
The trust was approved by the Maryland State Ethics Commission during a closed-door meeting last Thursday.
“This will ensure the governor is removed from even the appearance of potential conflicts of interset that could arise as a result of his duties as governor,” Moore’s spokesman, Carter Elliott IV, said in a statement Monday.
The blind trust “further demonstrates his commitment to serving the people of Maryland to the best of his ability ethically, transparently, and effectively,” Elliott’s statement continued.
Moore’s trust is stricter than the trust used by his predecessor, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who had a career in real estate and founded the Hogan Companies.
Hogan’s business interests were controlled by his brother, and the governor was allowed to receive updates on the performance of the investments. Hogan faced repeated questions — and two ethics complaints — about whether he made decisions that might have favored Hogan Companies developments.
The last governor who had a blind trust was Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican who served from 2003-2007.
Moore will not be given information about the actions taken by the Brown Advisory trust manager on his behalf. He’ll only be given enough information to file his taxes each year.
Moore only knows what went into the trust as of April, a long list of stocks, mutual funds, securities and other investments.
The single-largest investment going into the trust is more than 170,000 shares of stock in Green Thumb Industries, a multi-state marijuana company that operates medical cannabis dispensaries in Maryland.
The Green Thumb Industries stock is worth $1.171 million and represents more than 46% of the portfolio going into the trust.
Moore previously was a member of Green Thumb’s board of directors, and resigned in March 2022 when he filed his paperwork to run for governor.
Moore’s involvement with Green Thumb has represented a potential conflict of interest, as the lawmakers passed legislation setting up a newly legal recreational cannabis industry to launch on July 1.
The governor has supported cannabis legalization and plans to sign the bill into law, his office has said.
Now that the Green Thumb stock and other investments are under the control of the blind trust, Moore effectively doesn’t own them any more, according to the governor’s team.
“We did this so that we can make sure he’s working for the state of Maryland. He does not own it any more,” said David Turner, Moore’s communications director.
The governor won’t know if the trust sells some or all of his Green Thumb stock, which is likely, because state ethics laws require blind trusts to be diversified. A blind trust should not have more than 20% value in one holding or more than 30% in a specific sector or industry, under state ethics law. The trust agreement states the trust has 90 days to sell investments in order to meet those thresholds.
Moore also put into the blind trust $203,000 worth of stock in Baltimore-based sneaker and apparel company Under Armour, which represents about 8% of the trust’s initial value.
Earlier this year, Moore recused himself from a routine vote on the state’s spending panel involving Under Armour, where the governor also previously served on the board. The state leases storage space for health equipment from Under Armour at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County; the vote was to extend the lease.
The blind trust includes only investments that are easily sold or transferred.
It does not include real estate, such as the Guilford mansion owned by Moore and his wife Dawn Flythe Moore that’s currently for sale for $2.75 million.
The trust also did not take control of Moore’s partial ownership of more than 20 limited liability companies based in New Jersey. That’s because those LLCs are invested in real estate, according to the governor’s team.
The list of assets going into the trust also does not include a handful of companies owned by Moore related to his speaking engagements and the books he has published.
Before running for governor, Moore was CEO of the New York-based, poverty fighting Robin Hood Foundation from 2017 until 2021.
In 2020, the last full year that he worked at Robin Hood, Moore was paid $899,635 in salary plus $100,094 in other compensation, according to the foundation’s tax documents.
In 2021, working for Robin Hood for a partial year, Moore was paid $611,234 in salary and $68,845 in other compensation.
“I’ve been very, very transparent with everybody that when I become the governor-elect, everyone is going to be very clear about where all of my intellectual focus is going to be,” Moore told The Baltimore Banner during last year’s campaign. That focus, he said, would be governing, not business deals.
Moore’s team emphasized that the governor and ethics officials nailed down the details of the blind trust within the first 100 days of his term.
Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, meanwhile, has a more straightforward financial situation, according to her latest public financial disclosure form.
Miller listed assets including a home she owns with her husband that has both a mortgage and a home equity loan, as well as several stock holdings. She also listed membership on the boards of two foundations that received state money and noted that her husband works for a satellite internet company.
All state elected officials were required to file financial disclosures by April 30 listing their income, investments and possible conflicts for calendar year 2022. Moore filed a report, but his team noted that the information is now out of date since it’s been replaced by the blind trust.
pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Pamela Wood covers Maryland politics and government. She previously reported for The Baltimore Sun, The Capital and other Maryland newspapers. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, she lives in northern Anne Arundel County.
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