Howard Lutnick Faces Scrutiny Over Cantor Fitzgerald’s Nvidia Ties

According to CNBC, Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm formerly run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and now led by his sons, reported a 49% decline in its Nvidia shareholding between September 2025 and March 2026, while continuing to arrange financing for companies in Nvidia’s business network. Cantor’s reported Nvidia holdings fell from 3 million shares in December to 1.78 million by the end of March, but the filings do not show why the firm reduced its reported position or whether its overall financial exposure declined. The firm said its reported holdings reflected client swap transactions and that it had only immaterial stand-alone proprietary positions in Nvidia. The scrutiny follows reports that Lutnick resisted efforts to restrict Singapore-based Megaspeed, which was suspected of funneling Nvidia chips to China, despite intelligence concerns involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Cantor was one of seven bookrunners on IREN’s $3 billion convertible bond offering, which closed in May; Nvidia and IREN had announced a five-year, $3.4 billion cloud-computing contract and a strategic partnership. There is no evidence that Lutnick’s sons had advance knowledge of the intelligence concerns, that Cantor’s reported holdings changes were tied to warnings, or that the firm’s business interests influenced Lutnick’s decisions. Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter said the relationship could create an appearance of concern, while noting there was no proof Lutnick shared nonpublic information with Cantor.