Cruz: I Forgot Ties to Overseas Holding Company

Tea party favorite Ted Cruz says he forgot to disclose a piece of financial information when he ran for office in 2012. The Texas senator says he did nothing wrong and is working to fix the error.

 

A Senate ethics committee is looking into a promissory note Cruz holds from a Caribbean-based holding company.

 

According to Time, Cruz failed to disclose his relationship with the holding company when he filed his campaign papers last year.

 

Cruz invested in a Jamaican private equity firm founded by his college roommate more than a decade ago. When his wife started working for the Department of Treasury in 2003 Cruz severed all ties with the company, with the exception of a promissory note.

 

Cruz said the omission was an oversight. "In 2011, there was an inadvertent omission of this promissory note, and after a conversation with my college roommate I remembered it," Cruz says.

 

Cruz, who is most recently known for his efforts to get rid of Obamacare, corrected the error himself in May, but the paperwork contained errors, according to Time. 

 

In the paperwork, Cruz said the promissory note was for Caribbean Equity Partners Investment Holdings with a value between $100,000 and $250,000. But, according to Time, no company with that name is registered in Jamaica. There is, however, a company by the name of Caribbean Equity Partners Limited, of which Cruz was a founding director and preferential shareholder.

 

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics asked Cruz to amend the papers, and asked him to provide the nature of the promissory note, the entity that issued it, the city the entity was located in, and the date the note was issued. Cruz says he is in the process of getting this information for the committee.

 

The Texas senator says he has had no connection to the firm in more than a decade, is no longer a director or shareholder, and has received no money from the promissory note or the company. 

 

According to Senate ethics, there are no prohibitions on being a director of a company or holding shares in, or notes on, a private equity firm or holding company. The rules state Senators can't get paid for positions outside of their government service and must disclose all financial holdings.