Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump's top political surrogates and a millionaire, is running point on the president-elect's cybersecurity policies. Carl Icahn, a billionaire friend in New York, is charged with cutting regulations. And, now, Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth, two of his top real-estate friends, are special advisers to build a $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

Trump has amassed a Cabinet of unheard-of wealth, filled with business executives and CEOs. But he has also quietly appointed a number of his richest friends and allies to unpaid jobs of importance, where their responsibilities are blurry but their power could prove immense. They will help set the administration's policies while also remaining in the private sector, where they could financially benefit from such policies through their own personal business interests.


LeFrak, however, said Trump is simply driven by a desire to tap people with proven track records.

"Without calling into question everyone's qualifications, he knows Mr. Roth and I know how to get things done," LeFrak said in an interview. "Maybe not in Washington. But in general. I think he just wants people who know how to get things done."

The arrangement has worried his critics, ethics experts and, privately, some Republicans. It remains unclear how these advisers will interact with his Cabinet members in charge of these areas, and whether they will listen to anyone except for Trump or communicate with Cabinet members traditionally in charge of such topics. They are not subject to the federal conflict-of-interest rules and other stringent ethics regulations that apply to members of the administration.

LeFrak said he didn't know how many hours the position would take weekly or how often he would visit Trump Tower or the White House. "I would say it's all to be determined," he said. "I would just say I'm working on this because the president-elect called me. It's all premature."

Giuliani said he planned to talk directly to the president whenever he wanted to raise a cybersecurity issue and would bring many others into the White House to consult with Trump. "He likes for people to just bring information to him," Giuliani said. "I'm going to raise the portfolio of the issue in the White House."

Presidents have long consulted confidants outside of government, and Trump has said he will bring in business executives with histories of reducing bureaucracy, executing projects under budget, and building things. He has frequently told allies he wants to be surrounded by other people of executive success, and the moves have heartened some establishment Republicans and business types who worry about his government inexperience.

While former President Barack Obama received plenty of criticism for his own penchant for naming private-sector “czars” who would swoop in during a crisis and other special advisers, Trump’s emerging cadre of outsiders with inside access is taking on a different complexion.

Trump's outside advisers have portfolios that intersect with their private jobs; LeFrak and Roth are developers who seek strong infrastructure plans from the federal government, while Giuliani provides cybersecurity work for consulting clients that also have contracts with the federal government, and Icahn's conglomerate business would benefit from less regulation.

The roles that these individuals have been tapped for resemble special government employees, or SGEs, who are "retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation” for up to 130 days out of a year, according to the Office of Government Ethics.

Icahn, at least, appears to be a de facto SGE because Trump gave him a formal title and sweeping responsibilities, according to Norm Eisen, a former ethics lawyer to Obama. That means the federal law against conflicts of interest should apply to Icahn, Eisen said.

"His duties seem to go beyond informal advising,” Eisen said. "They can't give him SGE responsibilities and then by fiat say it is not so.”

The statement announcing Icahn’s role attempted to do just that, saying, "Carl Icahn will be advising the President in his individual capacity and will not be serving as a federal employee or a Special Government Employee and will not have any specific duties."

Icahn said last month it was "crazy" and "ridiculous" that he would have to sell his stocks to advise Trump. Roth declined to comment. LeFrak and Giuliani both said they didn't see potential conflicts and would not be lobbying Trump for any personal gain.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), an author of the STOCK Act, which bans government officials from trading on information they gain through their jobs, sent Trump’s incoming White House counsel a letter last Wednesday warning the administration to follow the law.

"Of particular concern is the naming of Carl Icahn as an unofficial advisor,” Slaughter said in the letter. "The fact that a billionaire investor will have significant influence over federal policy while presumably operating outside of federal ethics laws raises serious red flags."

The men do not have to file ethics forms or face Senate confirmation, even though they could have significant policy sway. Trump's advisers were concerned about what a vetting of Giuliani might reveal, people involved in the process said, though Giuliani said he was given a clean bill to join the government. LeFrak said he wasn't interested in joining the government, partly because he'd have to fill out the required ethics forms.

"You think his affairs are complicated? I file 1,200 partnership tax returns every year," LeFrak said of Trump. "I have a private business. It's big and complicated. When you ask me about it, I wouldn't join the government. They wouldn't know what to make of it. I'm happy to show it to anybody, but they wouldn't know what to make of it."

There is a separate federal law against federal agencies using volunteer labor, for fear it could drain the treasury with people demanding payment for work Congress never authorized. But attorneys general have long made an exception for “gratuitous services” that were always meant to be unsalaried or where the person makes a written agreement releasing the government from any compensation.

All the men are volunteers for Trump.

The new roles could also create tension with Trump's Cabinet picks, who are charged with setting national priorities on issues like infrastructure, trade and cybersecurity. In interviews, LeFrak and Giuliani said they both expected to deal with the president-elect directly but are not expecting to go to Washington or attend Cabinet meetings.

Trump has set up an unorthodox power dynamic in the White House, with various power centers led by chief of staff Reince Priebus, son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon. Others, like Kellyanne Conway, his counselor and supreme spokeswoman, report directly to the president. Low-level aides sometimes find themselves speaking directly to the president, while he keeps the counsel of longtime advisers like fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. He has created other new positions, like a chief negotiator and a new trade position.

Having outside counsel could help Trump if he relies on them smartly, said Michael Beer, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on management structures. That would involve keeping everyone in the loop and having a seamless communications structure, he said.

"It will all depend on how Trump orchestrates the relationships and manages them," Beer said. "He seems to be improvisational and appears to want to pit people against each other. That doesn't work with any CEO and any senior team. It will create tensions and resentments because you need an integrated view."

Trump's choices of New York CEOs have heartened some about his presidency, while leaving others more disenchanted that his Cabinet is dominated by wealthy executive types.

"It's great for us," said Kathryn Wylde, who leads the Partnership for New York City, the city's biggest business organization. "They are engaged in the community and they have immense private-sector experience. They tend to be very careful about not taking self-interested positions. These guys are pros. They're not lobbyists. That's way down the food chain."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) hounded the Obama administration over its use of SGEs, especially Huma Abedin, who was an adviser to Hillary Clinton as secretary of state while also working in the private sector. Grassley sent several letters to the State Department asking about conflicts of interest and asked the Government Accountability Office to review the SGE designation.

"If specific problems or concerns present themselves, Sen. Grassley likely would be concerned, as he was with what came out of the State Department,” said Jill Gerber, a Grassley spokeswoman. "He expects incoming administration employees and informal advisers to follow the spirit and the letter of all applicable ethics rules and guidelines, just as he expected the same from the Obama administration."