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The lobbyist brother of a top adviser to President-elect Joe Biden has been raking in the clients ever since Biden’s win was declared, according to reports — sparking conflict-of-interest concerns in the new White House inner circle.
Jeff Ricchetti, the brother of longtime Biden aide Steve Ricchetti, picked up a lobbying contract with Amazon Web Services in November, less than a week after Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, CNBC reported Saturday.
Two days later, Jeff Ricchetti registered as a lobbyist for Evofem Biosciences, pushing for contraceptive coverage in federal health-care plans.
That same week, Steve Ricchetti, who served as Biden’s campaign chairman and as his vice-presidential chief of staff, was tapped as “counselor to the president,” a job held by trusted aides like Kellyanne Conway under President Trump.
The Ricchetti brothers co-founded their Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, Ricchetti Inc., in 2001. The firm handled pharmaceutical clients like Eli Lilly and Sanofi during Biden’s second vice-presidential term, when Steve Ricchetti left the company to become Biden’s right-hand man.
But his resume has drawn fierce denunciations from progressive Democrats.
Ricchetti “is a former pharma lobbyist and has represented groups vociferously opposed to Medicare For All and the public manufacturing of prescription drugs,” Alexandra Rojas of the progressive group Justice Democrats said last month.
“If Joe Biden continues making corporate-friendly appointments to his White House, he will risk quickly fracturing the hard-earned goodwill his team built with progressives to defeat Donald Trump,” she added.
A source assured CNBC that Jeff Ricchetti’s client list should cause no concern.
“Steve and Jeff keep their professional activities distinctly separate,” the source said.
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