Commerce Secretary Lutnick tapped to review Pentagon’s Cerberus Capital deals

Howard Lutnick, who runs the Commerce Department, has been handed an unusual side assignment: reviewing any transactions between the Pentagon and companies connected to Cerberus Capital Management. The Department of Defense made the choice, according to a US official, placing Lutnick in the center of one of Washington’s more complicated conflict-of-interest situations. The reason Lutnick is doing this rather than someone inside the DoD gets to the heart of the problem. Stephen Feinberg, who co-founded Cerberus and ran the firm as CEO, has been serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense since March 2025. That is the second-highest job at the Pentagon. The Feinberg factor Feinberg did divest his personal holdings in Cerberus when he took the role. What critics have focused on is what he did not divest: assets sitting in family trusts that still benefit members of his household. Senator Elizabeth Warren has been among the most vocal, sending multiple letters to the DoD demanding greater transparency on contracts linked to Cerberus-affiliated companies and calling for a cleaner break between Feinberg and procurement decisions. Cerberus-connected firms have collected meaningful Pentagon bus...