Bessent Says Lutnick’s Commerce Department Is Responsible for Failure to Blacklist Megaspeed
Traders see a 25-basis-point hike as hot October prices keep pressure on policymakers, with core CPI rising 0.3% against a 0.2% forecast.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly blamed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's department for failing to blacklist Singapore-based Megaspeed International, noting that Treasury officials have pushed for months to restrict the firm over suspected illicit Nvidia chip diversions to China.
- Bessent emphasized that ultimate authority over placing foreign firms on the U.S. Entity List rests with the Commerce Department, despite repeated warnings from Treasury and intelligence officials regarding Megaspeed's alleged circumvention of U.S. export controls.
- The public finger-pointing follows reports of a tense White House Situation Room confrontation last week in which Bessent—backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—pressed Lutnick over why Megaspeed had still not been sanctioned.
- Scrutiny over the enforcement delay has intensified following revelations that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, whom U.S. intelligence officials suspect of acting as a Chinese intelligence operative involved in routing $7.5 billion worth of restricted AI chips to China.
- The Commerce Department denied reports of the heated Situation Room clash, maintaining that Entity List designations are made collectively at the administration level rather than unilaterally by Commerce, even as White House advisers reportedly discuss Lutnick's potential ouster.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Bessent blames Commerce for not restricting Nvidia customer’s chip exports
Singapore’s Megaspeed is at the heart of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s spy-sex scandal. The Commerce Department had been investigating if Megaspeed breached U.S. export restrictions.
Bessent points finger at Commerce Department in Nvidia scandal as Trump advisers discuss possible Lutnick ouster
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday accused the Commerce Department of a delay in labeling Nvidia customer Megaspeed a possible national security threat, publicly airing an ongoing administration blame game following the ouster of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Bessent says Treasury favored limits on Megaspeed
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday his department had favored putting Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed on the US entity list for months but that it was up to the Commerce Department to act, adding that the FTC could possibly take other action.
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