Stephen Feinberg
Net Worth: $5 Billion (Forbes)
- Feinberg was confirmed as the Deputy Secretary of Defense on March 14, 2025. During his confirmation hearing Feinberg defended the Trump administration’s plan to layoff thousands of employees at the Pentagon, saying “We have more than 900,000 civilian employees, so while every person counts and is, of course very important, there’s going to be some change.” Feinberg worked on Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign as a member of the Economic Advisory Council and led the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during the first Trump administration. During the 2016 campaign, Feinberg donated $1.5 million to PACs supporting Trump and co-hosted a joint RNC-Trump fundraiser. Feinberg donated $715,600 to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
- Feinberg is the billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, an investment firm that does business with the Department of Defense and has a track record of mismanagement and controversies. Navistar Defense, a military contractor owned by Cerberus, paid a $50 million settlement after it was accused of defrauding the U.S. military. Tier1 Group, a private military training company that trains U.S. Special Forces, trained four Saudi nationals who participated in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Feinberg lobbied the first Trump administration to use more military contractors in Afghanistan at the same time he owned military contractor DynCorp International, which had already received $2.5 billion from the State Department to train the Afghan police force.
- The Sandy Hook school shooter used guns manufactured by Cerberus owned companies. Feinberg, a gun enthusiast, created Freedom Group to buy and consolidate multiple gun manufacturing companies, including Bushmaster. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster assault rifle to kill teachers and students at Sandy Hook Elementary. After the Sandy Hook Massacre, Cerberus promised to sell Freedom Group and cashed out most investors. However, Feinberg continued to own a personal stake in Freedom Group.
- Cerberus purchased and mismanaged a Massachusetts hospital chain, leading to its eventual bankruptcy. The hospital chain was renamed Stewart Health Care after Cerberus purchased it in 2010.
- 2016: Steward Health Care paid out a $790 million dividend to shareholders, with most of that sum going to Cerberus. In April 2020, Steward Health Care recorded a $408 million net loss. The company said it would need $750 million over the next seven years to continue its operations strategies, just four years after its $790 million dividend payout.
- March 2020: Stewart Health Care threatened to shut down a Pennsylvania hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic unless it received a state funded bailout. They ultimately received $8 million from the Pennsylvania state government to keep the hospital open. Cerberus claimed it had no control over closing the hospital, but it held a majority of the hospital’s board seats at the time of the decision.
- May 2020: Cerberus exited from Steward Health Care, agreeing to sell its controlling stake to a group of Steward physicians, who borrowed $335 million to make the deal. Cerberus made an $800 million profit during its exit, while Steward Health Care was saddled with debt due to back payments owed to vendors and $50 million owed to the Medical Properties Trust, debts accrued while Cerberus was in charge. In 2024, Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy.
- Cerberus purchased Chrysler in 2007 then proceeded to leave the car manufacturer in ruins. Cerberus arranged for Chrysler to take on more than $10 billion in debt to make up for poor cashflow, but large interest payments to service the debt became unmanageable as car sales began to drop sharply. Between 2007 and 2009, Chrysler fired 35,000 workers. Chrysler and another Cerberus controlled company, GMAC, received $22.6 billion in government bailout money during the Great Recession, yet Chrysler ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
For more information, see the Revolving Door Project’s Billionaires in Trump World tracker.