A Biden official who first uttered the now-infamous “gold bars” phrase sparked ethics concerns after seeking a transfer to a major grant office while expressing interest in a potential role with one of the groups receiving billions in taxpayer funds, according to documents obtained by watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT).
The documents include communications between Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials regarding Special Advisor for Implementation Brent Efron after he considered “permanent reassignment” to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) office, which doled out $20 billion to green groups stacked with Democratic donors and insiders under former President Joe Biden. A December 2024 video, covertly recorded by conservative activist group Project Veritas, captures Efron comparing the EPA’s rush to get taxpayer funds out the door as “throwing gold bars off the Titanic” and was internally flagged for potential ethics concerns as Efron mentioned he might want to work for one of the green groups receiving Biden’s billions.
“After watching so many others travel through the revolving door between the EPA and entities in the climate industry cashing in from the massive Greendoggle giveaways, it’s not surprising that the guy who so matter-of-factly discussed throwing ‘gold bars off the Titanic’ might have been looking for a similar opportunity for himself,” Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT, told the DCNF. “It’s become more and more apparent with each revelation that the potential for waste, abuse, and cronyism was a feature, not a bug, of the GGRF. The American public certainly might be forgiven if they assumed the ‘green’ in the green agenda of the last few years was the enormous volume of cash being shoveled out the door.”
Redacted Epa Docs BE by audreystreb
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has flagged the GGRF for conflict-of-interest concerns, which remains under investigation by the EPA’s inspector general, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Program funds went to several nonprofits laden with high-level Obama and Biden-era staffers as well as Democratic donors despite federal reviewers flagging potential conflict-of-interest and excessive executive compensation concerns, and the Trump administration continues fighting to claw back the funds.
Efron did not name any specific group or grantee he hoped to work for in the video. The Biden EPA determined he had not violated ethics rules, but officials still flagged the Project Veritas clip, according to the documents.
Efron said it would be “really cool” to work for “one of those places” the agency had given billions of dollars to for “climate things” in the video, listing that the recipient categories getting Biden’s billions, which included “nonprofits, states [and] tribes,” and added that the program designs were “an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
EPA officials wrote that Efron was considering “permanent reassignment” with the GGRF office, though he was working out the terms of what he could and could not do. EPA Senior Counsel for Ethics Justina Fugh wrote to Efron on Dec. 4, 2024, that while he “made a reference to future employment someday,” since he does not mention a specific group or say anything to suggest he was “currently seeking employment at all, let alone with any of the grant recipient,” it was determined Efron did not “appear” to have “violated any federal ethics rules,” according to the documents.
“Instead, this situation appears to be an unfortunate reminder about the social media bubble we live in now,” Fugh continued.
Zeldin has referenced the “gold bars” phrase on numerous occasions in connection with the GGRF and “reckless” spending under the Biden administration. Efron has since spoken publicly about the video, writing on LinkedIn that “after continuing to see a member of President Trump’s cabinet spin my words as some sort of evidence for terrorizing civil servants and cancelling grants that would have benefited so many, I can no longer stay silent.”
“It’s hard to believe some are STILL trying to claim the Biden EPA’s ‘gold bars’ scheme wasn’t plagued with conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and unqualified recipients. Administrator Zeldin’s quick termination of that slush fund kept billions of taxpayer dollars from flowing into the coffers of politically connected passthroughs with reduced oversight,” an EPA spokesperson told the DCNF. “Unlike the Biden-Harris administration, the Trump EPA is committed to being an exceptional steward of taxpayer dollars. We’re rooting out corruption, increasing government transparency and carrying out EPA’s core mission: protecting human health and the environment.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Biden’s ‘Gold Bars’ Went To Politically-Connected Orgs Over Internal Red Flags, Watchdog Finds)
BREAKING: @EPA Advisor Admits ‘Insurance Policy’ Against Trump is Funneling Billions to Climate Organizations, “We’re Throwing Gold Bars off the Titanic”
“It was an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
“Get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump… pic.twitter.com/eaAihuNvAh
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) December 3, 2024
The New York Times profiled Efron in July, noting that what he believed to be a date turned into a publicly aired video shared by top government officials and the richest man in the world, as Elon Musk reposted the footage and captioned it with an emoticon displaying a puzzled expression that the paper defined as an example of being “publicly shamed.” Efron was also reportedly interviewed by the FBI and harassed by anonymous callers following the release, according to the NYT.
Efron told the NYT that the Titanic analogy was supposed to represent protecting some of Biden’s work and that the projects developed by green groups and states were “lifeboats.”
“I have so much regret that my words have been twisted to be used to go after all these programs as a sort of justification,” Efron told the NYT. “I regret that I was not careful enough in vetting who I was talking to, and shouldn’t have been talking about work. But I also think that what I said was something I should have been allowed to say.”
The documents also suggest that Efron had not completed “initial” ethics training by Dec. 11, 2024, after returning to the agency in the summer of 2024.
A federal appeals court ruled on Sept. 3 that Obama-appointed district court Judge Tanya Chutkan abused her power in blocking the EPA from clawing back the billions in taxpayer cash doled out to green groups under the Biden administration. Though the grantees could still appeal the ruling, Zeldin has hailed it as a “major win.”
Efron did not respond to the DCNF’s multiple requests for comment.
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