Trump Ally And Anti-ESG Crusader Joins Fannie Mae Board
A Trump family ally and investment banker was appointed to the Fannie Mae board on Monday.
Omeed Malik, the founder of investment firm 1789 Capital — where Donald Trump Jr. works — was added to the board by Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte, he announced in a post to social media platform X.
“Under President Trump, housing will enter its Golden Age. To have the best and brightest, Omeed Malik will be joining the Board of Fannie Mae, effectively immediately!” Pulte said. “Omeed brings great capital markets, legal and investment experience as we Make Fannie and Freddie Great Again!”
Malik is the president of 1789 Capital, which has carved out a niche by publicly lambasting environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing. Instead, Malik is a proponent of what he calls an EIG investment strategy focused on entrepreneurship, innovation and growth.
He’s also the CEO of investment bank Farvahar Partners, which provides advisory services and capital to high-growth venture-backed companies. Prior to starting his own businesses, Malik had a long career in corporate finance, with his last role at the top of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s hedge fund advisory business.
President Donald Trump’s oldest son joined 1789 Capital in November as a partner. The Palm Beach-based investment firm focuses on conservative companies and had roughly $150M in venture capital deployed at the end of 2024.
The firm has the backing of Rockbridge Network, a conservative Silicon Valley donor group co-founded by entrepreneur Chris Buskirk and Vice President JD Vance, Reuters previously reported.
Some of 1789 Capital’s investments include leading Series B funding for the Enhanced Games, a planned athletic event that will allow the use of some performance-enhancing drugs like steroids that are traditionally banned from professional sports, and an investment in Houston-based Axion Space, which is focused on developing private space stations and commercial space flight.
Malik has also worked with the investment operations of the Pulte family, who built their fortune with homebuilder PulteGroup. In January, Pulte’s family office invested in GrabAGun, an online firearms retailer that Malik is working to take public through a special purpose acquisition company, Bloomberg reported. Trump Jr. was also nominated to the GrabAGun board in March.
Pulte’s post announcing Malik’s appointment came roughly 20 minutes after Pulte posted to X that “news on Fannie Mae [was] coming shortly.” The announcement sent Fannie Mae’s shares soaring, with the stock climbing by roughly 14% in trading Monday. The stock is up nearly 25% over the past five trading days.
Fannie Mae and the FHFA didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment Tuesday morning.
Investors are closely monitoring the federal government’s position on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agencies have effectively been under government control since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis in a program known as conservatorship, which White House officials are reportedly looking to end.
Ending the conservatorship program would likely involve some kind of stock offering that could generate billions of dollars in profits for existing shareholders. Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman and billionaire hedge fund investor John Paulson are both reported to have large investments in the federally backed mortgage market makers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, highlighted the potential for insider trading among Trump’s allies in a letter to Pulte ahead of his confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill.
Since taking over at FHFA, Pulte has quickly moved to install allies in key positions. He appointed himself as chairman of the board at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, dismissed eight Fannie Mae board members and replaced them with four new people. Six Freddie Mac board members were also replaced by three people picked by Pulte.
One of the new Fannie Mae board members was Christopher Stanley, a cybersecurity engineer at SpaceX and X — two companies owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who is tearing through the government with his Department of Government Efficiency.
Stanley resigned a day after his appointment, although no reason was provided.
