David Sacks Calls NYT Conflict Of Interest Report “Nothing Burger,” Threatens Defamation Lawsuit

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks has pushed back against a recent report by The New York Times that claimed his government advisor role could benefit his investments and those made by his close associates.

Sacks stated on X that even though he has debunked the Times’ reports over the past five months "in detail," they continue to publish articles arguing his position presents a conflict of interest.

“Today they evidently just threw up their hands and published this nothing burger,” Sacks wrote.

“Anyone who reads the story carefully can see that they strung together a bunch of anecdotes that don’t support the headline,” Sacks added.

“At no point in their constant goalpost-shifting was NYT willing to update the premise of their story to accept that I have no conflicts of interest to uncover,” he said.

Sacks concluded his post by saying that he has hired the law firm Clare Locke, which specializes in defamation law. He also shared a screenshot of the letter that the firm sent to the Times, which he claims has "willfully mischaracterized or ignored the facts to support their bogus narrative."

Sacks Still Reportedly Has 20 Crypto Investments

Before US President Donald Trump appointed him as the White House’s crypto and AI czar, Sacks had co-founded the venture capital firm Craft Ventures. Sacks had also divested more than $200 million in crypto and stocks tied to crypto. Of this amount, he owned at least $85 million.

While he divested around $200 million from crypto-related investments, Sacks still retained an interest in several illiquid investments that he described as "private equity of digital asset-related companies."

According to an analysis by The Times on Sacks’ financial disclosure, he has retained 708 tech investments. Of these, 449 are related to AI companies, while 20 are tied to crypto. The report claimed that all of these investments could benefit from Sacks’ ability to influence policy at the White House.

One investment highlighted as a potential conflict of interest is one made by Craft Ventures into the crypto infrastructure company BitGo, which offers a stablecoin-as-a-service. In the report, The Times stated that Craft owned 7.8% of the company, which went public in September of this year.

The Times also noted that Sacks expressed his support for the GENIUS Act, the first regulatory framework at the federal level for stablecoins.

The signing of the GENIUS Act into law led to a surge in the stablecoin market, causing the sector’s total capitalization to surpass $300 billion for the first time.

AI Investments Also Present A Conflict Of Interest For Sacks

The Times also pointed out Sacks’ and Craft’s connections to companies in the AI sector. These companies’ valuations have seen significant increases as both the White House and Wall Street have invested heavily in the technology’s potential.

In its report, The Times referenced Sacks’ ethics waivers, which were shared in March, and stated that he would divest his investments in AI and crypto. However, these waivers did not specify when Sacks sold the assets, nor did they detail the value of his remaining investments.