Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, is poised to become the most powerful Kennedy in decades. Here's a look at his share of the family fortune.
Article de Chase Peterson-Withorn pour Forbes US
Article updated on November 14, 2024: In the United States, the Kennedy family has been synonymous with money and power since Joe Kennedy leveraged his experience on Wall Street to become the first president of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), then the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Now, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to become the most powerful Kennedy in half a century by becoming Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Secretary of State of Health and Human Services. He will have complete freedom to completely overhaul American health and food policy. However, Robert F. Kenenedy will have limited personal funds compared to the scale of his future power, as a survey of Forbes on the personal fortune of candidate Kennedy, from August 2023.
Standing on the roof of his Cape Cod home, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pans his phone camera from his grandfather Joe Kennedy's mansion to his father Bobby Kennedy's nearby home, then to the “White House “summer” of his uncle John F. Kennedy (JFK), located nearby, offering his 1.2 million followers on Instagram privileged access to the famous family compound. “After my last request for support, we raised $3 million in just three days”he wrote in the caption. “As a thank you, I wanted to share some stories about my family. »
The legacy of a historic family empire
For decades, the Kennedy clan was one of the most powerful and successful in the United States. Joe Kennedy, father of President JFK, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and Senator Ted Kennedy, grew rich speculating in stocks and investing in real estate, fueling a family fortune that Forbes was estimated to be worth $1.2 billion in 2015. RFK Jr., one of Joe Kennedy's 29 grandchildren, is the fourth descendant to run for president, and the first to do so without the support of the whole family. He is also not investing any personal money in his campaign. Asking strangers for donations on social media isn't like the Kennedy clan, but it makes sense when you consider that RFK Jr. inherited more of the fame of the Kennedy last name than the clan's money.
Forbes estimates RFK Jr.'s net worth at around $15 million, including the assets of his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, who notably played the role of Larry David's wife on the series Larry and his belly buttonbroadcast on HBO. One of the main reasons RFK Jr. doesn't have more money is that the Kennedy family tree has a lot of branches. RFK Jr. is one of Bobby Kennedy's 11 children, leaving him with far less money than, say, his cousin Caroline Kennedy, the only descendant of the JFK branch to survive (for this generation).
That's not to say that RFK Jr. doesn't have family money. He owns shares in the Kennedy trusts, which date back to 1926. He owns at least $4 million in assets inherited from his ancestors, including a stake in Wolf Point, a large development project in downtown Chicago, on a land acquired by Grandpa Joe in the 1940s.
In partnership with Houston-based real estate giant Hines and a real estate arm of the AFL-CIO labor federation, the Kennedy family developed two luxury rental apartment towers on the site, as well as a skyscraper. 60-story skyscraper offering several square feet of office space, primarily leased to software company Salesforce and law firm Kirkland & Ellis. RFK Jr. reported holding between $1.75 million and $6.5 million worth of stock in the project in a financial disclosure statement he filed in June. “It’s a phenomenal location”says Tony Hardy, executive director of Keller Williams' multifamily division in Chicago. “Hines and the Kennedys have a reputation for providing quality products. »
Other assets of the Kennedys include investments worth $500,000 in stocks, private equity and hedge funds managed by the family's Park Financial Holdings, part of a discreet family office located in midtown Manhattan. RFK Jr. also lists an interest in Arctic Royalty, a limited partnership holding oil and gas leases in Texas and Oklahoma, worth between $31,000 and $115,000.
A fortune earned by one's own means
However, he also made a lot of money on his own. RFK Jr, who declined to comment for this article, made more than $5 million through his law firm, Kennedy & Madonna LLP, between early 2022 and mid-2023. He valued his stake in the firm at between $1 million and $5 million. Run by two lawyers from the New York home of Kevin J. Madonna, the Kennedy & Madonna firm has scored some big victories, including being part of the team that won a $670 million settlement from DuPont in the contamination case that inspired the film Dark Waters in 2019. However, the firm does not make consistent profits every year. “Firm revenues are a roller coaster in this business and are never predictable”wrote Kevin J. Madonna to Forbes by email. “They can be big one year and zero the next year. »
The revival of a historic empire
RFK Jr.'s wealth doesn't just come from his grandfather Joe Kennedy's trust funds. Much of his fortune comes from his Los Angeles home, money his wife Cheryl Hines earned as an actress, and an array of other investments, including more than $100,000 in bitcoin.
RFK Jr. also works for other law firms, generating more than $1.5 million in 2022 and early 2023 as a consultant for Wisner Baum, where he assisted with litigation against Merck's Gardasil HPV vaccine. He also received $315,000 from JW Howard Attorneys, a litigation firm. He received more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses from Children’s Health Defensea non-profit organization he created to “fight corruption, mass surveillance and censorship that put profits before people” and who has been criticized for her campaign against vaccines.
RFK Jr. Also had a good marriage. His wife Cheryl Hines earned over $1 million in 2022 and early 2023, when she appeared in the film When destiny gets involved and in the HBO series The Flight Attendant. She has two retirement accounts, which hold between $600,000 and $1.7 million, mostly in stock and bond index funds.
Aside from these accounts and family trusts, most of the couple's fortune is cash, which they also hold between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of bitcoin, purchased after RFK Jr. gave a speech at a conference on cryptocurrencies at the beginning of the year. “As president, I will ensure that your right to hold and use bitcoins is inviolable”he told the crowd.
In Los Angeles, the couple sold a 520-square-foot home for $5.9 million in 2021, reportedly to comedian and author Chelsea Handler, before settling on a $7 million, 548-square-foot home squares located right next to it. The couple owes about $4.5 million on the mortgage. On the East Coast, there's the six-bedroom Hyannis Port home, estimated to be worth $3 million before deducting the $1.75 million mortgage.
Located next to his mother's house, who has lived there since the Kennedy clan's heyday, RFK Jr.'s rooftop deck offers an ideal vantage point from which to regale his followers with old anecdotes about one of the most famous American families, like those on family football games on the lawn or even that of Marine One who brought his father and uncles home for weekends away from Washington. “This is the story that brought me here”RFK Jr. tells his donors, before offering a final overview of the Kennedy compound, while the video fades to give way to a campaign sticker: www.kennedy24.com, where the RFK Jr. supporters are encouraged to make donations online.
Additional reporting by Kavya Gupta.
A translation by Flora Lucas
Also read: How Donald Trump Jr. built his fortune by capitalizing on his father's political career
