Ex-Palantir Adviser to Keep SpaceX, OpenAI Stakes in Trump Role

Former Palantir Technologies Inc. adviser Jacob Helberg plans to retain investments in dozens of artificial intelligence, defense and fintech companies as he starts his tenure as an under secretary of state in Donald Trump’s administration. 

Among the firms he’ll keep a stake in are OpenAI, Anduril Industries, SpaceX, the Boring Co. and Neuralink, Helberg said in a filing this week. The latter three companies are run by Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has pulled in more than a dozen people in his and Helberg’s shared orbit.

Helberg, 35, who was senior adviser to Palantir Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp, is married to Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures. Rabois, 56, is a longtime business associate of Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, including as a general partner at Founders Fund, the venture firm started by Thiel. 

The assets are held within limited liability companies tied to Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. Helberg and Khosla Ventures didn’t immediately respond to emails requesting comment.

“I understand the duties of the position of Under Secretary could involve particular matters affecting the financial interests of companies held in these funds,” Helberg said in the May 5 ethics disclosure, adding that he’ll recuse himself from situations that could affect his husband’s work or their shared financial interests.

In his financial disclosure, Helberg reported assets for himself and Rabois of at least $114 million, including stocks, bank accounts and municipal bonds. Nominees value their holdings in broad ranges and must also include the assets of spouses.

The disclosure is another reminder of the close links between Silicon Valley and Washington in Trump’s second administration, including a smaller orbit of tech billionaires who are members of the so-called PayPal Mafia.

Dozens of people linked to Thiel and Musk — whose oversight of DOGE gives him unprecedented access to the inner workings of the federal government — have been brought into the administration. Both men, as well as David Sacks, the tech investor who was tapped to be Trump’s AI and crypto czar, were founders or early employees of PayPal Holdings Inc. 

In his role as under secretary of state responsible for economic and tech-related issues, Helberg will focus on international relations, according to the filing, including matters such as China’s status as a “development country,” fostering a relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia and incentivizing foreign manufacturers to build in the US.

With assistance from Jackie Davalos.

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