Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is credited as an executive producer on the "Lego Batman" movie, which was produced by a film company he founded — Ratpac-Dune Entertainment. | Getty Wyden asks ethics officer to probe Mnuchin’s ‘Lego Batman’ comment

Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden is asking the top U.S. ethics officer to examine whether Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin violated his ethics agreement by talking up a movie he helped finance.

“I’m not allowed to promote anything I’m involved in,” Mnuchin said at a Friday event hosted by Axios. “So I just want to have the legal disclosure; you’ve asked me the question, and I am not promoting any product. But you should send all your kids to ‘Lego Batman.’”


Mnuchin is credited as an executive producer on the movie, which was produced by a film company he founded — Ratpac-Dune Entertainment. He pledged to divest his financial interests in the company within four months of his confirmation. Mnuchin was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 13.

Wyden said in his letter to Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub that Mnuchin has not provided the committee with any evidence that he has divested those interests and so he assumes he still holds them.

“I am concerned that despite his ‘legal disclosure,’ these comments may constitute a violation of Secretary Mnuchin’s January 10, 2017, ethics agreement,” the Oregon Democrat wrote.

Wyden pointed to the Treasury secretary’s pledge to not “participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the entity until I have divested it.”

The senator also cited OGE regulations that bar government employees from using their position to endorse a product.

Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.