Please note!

This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Did Janet Yellen earn $7.2 million in speaking fees in the last two years?

Monday, February 1, 2021

By Alexander Pasch

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YES

Janet Yellen, confirmed on Jan. 25, 2021, as Treasury Secretary, disclosed income of more than $7.2 million in speaking fees, mostly from major financial firms and related industry groups, during 2019 and 2020.

The Hill reported that Secretary Yellen would consult with ethics lawyers before participating “personally and substantially in any particular matter” that involve firms that paid her.

Notable entries on the list included $1 million from Citigroup and $810,000 from Citadel, a less familiar name to most consumers. Citadel’s securities unit executes transactions for various retail stock brokers, including Robinhood. In late January, Robinhood blocked investors from making some trades amid extraordinary trading volumes in GameStop. Robinhood said financial requirements from clearinghouses that settle trades and keep track of investors’ holdings led it to restrict the trades.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

US Office of Government Ethics: Public financial disclosure report for Janet Yellen

The Hill: Janet Yellen made more than $7.2 million from corporate speeches

Robinhood: The mechanics behind your trades

Bloomberg: The Citadel link—What Citadel has to do with GameStop

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.