Conflicts Allegations in Business — Diplomat-Corporate Lobbyist Conflict Allegation, Private Equity-Consultant Conflict Allegation

“NFLPA exec in conflict-of-interest controversy with private equity firm approved for NFL ownership stakes” —

• “NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. is facing a new round of scrutiny after ESPN reported on Thursday that he is working as a paid, part-time consultant for one of the league-approved equity firms looking to take a minority stake in an NFL team. Howell has been working with The Carlyle Group since March 2023, three months before he was hired as the NFLPA executive director, the report said.”
• “A senior lawyer for the players union reportedly had asked Howell to consider resigning from the private equity firm to avoid any conflict of interest, though part of that is being disputed in a separate report from The Athletic. The alleged conversation between Howell and the union lawyer occurred a month after the NFL had given The Carlyle Group approval to pursue minority ownership of an NFL team last August. “
• “Howell declined to step down from his role, according to the report; however, The Athletic cited five sources that disputed that he was ever advised to step down by an NFLPA attorney. “
• “One NFLPA source told the outlet that they challenged the characterization that Howell refused to follow the union attorney’s request, and three other sources told The Athletic that they weren’t aware of any NFLPA lawyer approaching Howell about the issue.”
• “The Athletic report also indicated that Howell had met with lawyers from the NFLPA and The Carlyle Group, with both agreeing that his role in the aerospace and defense division was enough separation from the sector that would work with the NFL.”
• “‘He had no access to information about the NFL and Carlyle process beyond public news reports due to strict Carlyle information barriers in place,’ a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement to ESPN. ‘Carlyle was not aware of the request from union lawyers for Lloyd to resign from Carlyle.’”
• “A separate source told ESPN that Howell had only remembered that any concerns were brought up by a ‘union employee,’ and he responded that he would ‘do his due diligence’ before making any decision regarding his involvement with The Carlyle Group. “
• “The NFLPA executive already had been under the microscope after it was reported that the union had struck a confidential agreement with the NFL to keep details of a January arbitration ruling from the players. “
• “But it noted in the 61-page ruling that the NFLPA had shown ‘by a clear preponderance of the evidence’ that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and league general counsel Jeff Pash impressed upon owners to restrict guaranteed money in player contracts. “
• “Beyond that, the NFLPA hired lawyer Ronald Machen of the law firm WilmerHale last month to work with a group of players to look over Howell’s activities as executive director following reports in May that the federal investigators were probing the union’s financial dealings.”

“Mandelson in ‘conflict of interest’ row as he retains £6m stake in lobbying firm” —

• “Peter Mandelson [UK Ambassador to the United States] still owns shares worth millions of pounds in a corporate lobbying firm – despite the company saying he would be selling them to avoid a conflict of interest, The i Paper can reveal. When the former Labour cabinet minister was appointed US ambassador in February, it was reported he would sell his stake in Global Counsel, although no deadline was set.”
• “New documents registered at Companies House disclose that Lord Mandelson retains a 21 per cent stake in Global Counsel, a worldwide lobbying company which currently represents corporations including US data giant Palantir and BMW. It has previously worked for Tik Tok, Shein, Open AI and Shell. Mandelson’s shareholding is estimated to be worth more than £6m.”
• “It was understood the former minister in Tony Blair’s Cabinet agreed to sell his shareholding when he was appointed ambassador to the US by Sir Keir Starmer.”
• “It has led to calls from anti-corruption campaigners for the Foreign Office to review how it handles his business interests.”
• “Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International said: ‘When our country’s top diplomats have a stake in the promotion of private companies, it raises the question as to whether they use their privileged position to further corporate interests.”
• “‘We urge the Foreign Office to review how it is managing potential conflicts of interest, including how it ensures the UK’s ambassador to the US does not present an inappropriate channel for influence.’”
• “A Government spokesperson said Mandelson has no ‘operational involvement’ with Global Counsel and the firm’s website says ‘in early 2025, Peter Mandelson stepped down from Global Counsel to assume the role of UK ambassador to the USA’.”
• “When Starmer went to Washington this February to meet Donald Trump, the Prime Minister also visited Palantir’s offices, a trip arranged by the UK embassy in Washington. Mandelson accompanied Starmer on the visit. There is no evidence to say Mandelson was directly involved in the trip’s arrangement of the trip.”
• “An FCDO spokesperson said: ‘There is an established regime in place for the management of interests held by ambassadors or high commissioners. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.’”
• “They added that Mandelson has no ‘operational involvement’ with Global Counsel. The lobbying company was also approached for a comment but referred The i Paper back to the Foreign Office.”

Also touching Palantir & PR: “Davis Polk Axes Associate Over Writings Criticizing Trump” —

• “Wall Street’s Davis Polk & Wardwell fired a junior attorney following warnings over his op-eds knocking the Trump administration, according to the lawyer.”
  “Ryan Powers, a former Davis Polk associate, says the firm fired him June 12. His profile was removed from the site immediately, Powers said in an interview.
• “The Harvard Law graduate joined the firm’s tax group October 2023 and worked on deals for Cintas Corp. and Penske Truck Leasing.”
• “Powers’ op-eds included critical takes on the federal government’s surveillance of the public, which highlighted Palantir Technologies. Davis Polk lawyers advised banks involved in Palantir’s 2020 stock listing. A firm human resources representative notified Powers that his content violated the firm’s internal policy because he was not granted prior permission, he said.”
• “‘The firm needs to do what it needs to do to protect whatever interests that they choose to support,’ Powers said in an interview. ‘I understand why they are doing what they’re doing. At the same time, it’s very sad on a personal level because it ends my Big Law career sooner than I had anticipated and in a very different way than I had anticipated.’”
• “Davis Polk declined to comment.”
• “Davis Polk has so far avoided the vitriol the president has directed at rival operations. Trump issued directives that threaten five firms’ ability to interact with the federal government, reached agreements with nine others and targeted 20 with investigations through the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”
• “The firm is helping Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and Crypto.com launch a series of exchange-traded funds later this year. Davis Polk hired former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino as an outside lobbyist in March and removed website references to its lawyers’ work on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.”
• “‘The firm should be embarrassed about it,’ Powers said of the work for Trump Media. ‘We tout our commitment to social responsibility through our pro bono partners and the kind of causes that we take up as part of official firm practice and then we are partnering with a namesake organization to a sitting president who has not supported those values.’”