Last year, the Department of Defense announced it was taking a $400 cardinal liking successful captious minerals institution MP Materials, and loaning the institution an other $150 cardinal to grow operations astatine its mining tract successful Mountain Pass, California, the only uncommon world location successful the U.S. The historical woody was the first of respective nonstop equity investments and loans the Pentagon has aggressively doled retired to artillery retention and mining companies successful the 2nd Trump administration, which now total much than $2 cardinal and person ramped up successful caller months, arsenic portion of the military’s effort to break Chinese power of captious minerals proviso chains.
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At the halfway of the July 2025 MP Materials deal was a apical backstage equity lawyer named Alan Waldenberg, past caput of the taxation group astatine Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, which later that summertime merged pinch different white-shoe patient to shape McDermott Will & Schulte, wherever Waldenberg remains a partner. Over the past 3 decades, his apical customer has been Cerberus Capital Management, the backstage equity elephantine whose founder, Stephen Feinberg, is now the number 2 civilian charismatic astatine the Department of Defense.
Since Feinberg assumed his Senate-confirmed station astatine the Pentagon, wherever he has immense sway complete budgets, contracts, and strategy, Waldenberg has recovered himself successful a caller role: managing Feinberg’s irrevocable trust, which holds his Cerberus assets and is group up to use his big children. As of 2024, the past twelvemonth of published filings, Waldenberg besides served arsenic president of Feinberg’s charitable foundation.
An aerial position of MP Materials’ Mountain Pass uncommon world excavation and processing installation successful California, photographed successful 2024. Credit: Courtesy MP MaterialsAt the aforesaid time, Waldenberg confirmed to the Prospect that he represented the Department of Defense successful the MP Materials deal, successful summation to his roles providing extracurricular ineligible counsel to Cerberus and to Feinberg. Waldenberg said that Feinberg had chosen him to correspond the DOD successful the woody because he has a “high grade of trust” successful him, based connected decades moving together, and that his engagement had been “completely discussed” pinch the department’s morals staff. Asked astir the imaginable for conflicts of liking to originate owed to his simultaneous domiciled arsenic lawyer for Cerberus, Feinberg, and the DOD, he said “you’ve sewage to beryllium kidding me” and insisted that the interests of the 3 clients person been kept separate.
Waldenberg’s domiciled successful providing counsel to Cerberus and managing aspects of Feinberg’s individual affairs and finances while being progressive successful the DOD’s historical captious minerals woody has not been antecedently reported. It’s unclear whether aliases to what grade he has been progressive successful different DOD nonstop equity deals and activities.
Based connected nationalist filings, Cerberus has nary known nonstop relationship to MP Materials, though the backstage equity patient has made investing successful the uncommon world proviso concatenation a privilege successful caller years. In particular, the patient has backed Canadian mining outfit Torngat Metals, which operates a tract successful Quebec, and Eos Energy Enterprises, which manufactures artillery retention units.
Cerberus and MP Materials did not respond to requests for comment.
“If he has a individual narration pinch Feinberg, Feinberg shouldn’t beryllium making a determination astir whether he’s hired by DOD,” said Richard Painter, who was the main White House morals lawyer nether George W. Bush and went connected to lead the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics successful Washington. “I don’t deliberation [Feinberg] should beryllium making a proposal aliases a decision, he should beryllium retired of it. I can’t spell into the authorities and urge that the authorities clasp my individual lawyer for thing while he’s still my individual lawyer. I conscionable can’t do that.”
In a connection to the Prospect, the Department of Defense wrote that the statement was aboveboard. “OSC [DOD’s Office of Strategic Capital, which leads the Pentagon’s uncommon earths investments] maintains a rigorous, multi-layered morals model that includes a elaborate screening process and operates successful afloat compliance pinch each national morals laws and regulations,” the connection said. The DOD did not remark connected whether Waldenberg is progressive successful different Pentagon activities, aliases specify its morals protocols. Waldenberg’s firm, according to the national government’s nationalist contracting database, has a statement pinch the DOD worthy $1.5 cardinal that runs done August 31, 2026.
Feinberg’s evident conflicts of liking person been the subject of extensive reporting focusing connected his soul circle astatine the Pentagon, which consists of elder Cerberus alums, and the grade to which Cerberus-owned defense contractors whitethorn guidelines to use from ties to the administration. The Prospect besides reported past period connected really a Cerberus-owned telecom institution named Ligado Networks has been pushing for a $40 cardinal colony to extremity a prolonged suit against the DOD.
Read: Top defense charismatic could reap windfall from DOD settlement
As of past week, Ligado reiterated its intent to compel find retired of the DOD, which 2 sources acquainted pinch the lawsuit told the Prospect whitethorn beryllium portion of a push to summation leverage for an eventual settlement. The DOD has vigorously resisted find successful the lawsuit complete the years, treating it arsenic a “sword of Damocles,” according to 1 of the sources, an omnipresent disastrous result it hopes to debar for its perchance important nationalist information implications.
The DOD has said that “any profit [Feinberg] whitethorn person from a imaginable Ligado colony will spell to a kindness to support America’s veterans,” though a spokesperson declined to opportunity which kindness would person the prospective donation. The Capitol Forum precocious reported that Ligado is hoping to person $5 cardinal from the feds, citing sources acquainted pinch the case. That would surpass the national government’s 2010 $3.4 cardinal settlement pinch Native American tribes, compensating them for the centuries-old confiscation of tribal lands.
The Pentagon’s captious minerals investments, including its liking successful MP Materials, person much precocious travel nether fire from money managers who person doubts astir the fledgling DOD-backed industry’s expertise to make a dent successful China’s world power of the uncommon earths proviso chain. The chosen mining companies person raised questions astir whether they “have capable economical constituent to prolong these banal prices, to put it very politely,” short seller Siegfried Eggert told the Financial Times past month.
That hasn’t diminished the cognition among mean investors that having a benefactor successful the authorities is bully for business. Between July of past year, erstwhile the Pentagon woody was announced, and today, the worth of MP Materials shares has astir doubled.
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