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AFL-CIO Report: Is DOGE's Antonio Gracias Mishandling Retiree Investments?
In late May, Elon Musk officially exited the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) amid internal feuds over the One Big Beautiful Bill and, importantly, widespread calls from his companies’ investors to focus on his day job(s) as CEO. However, as Will Royce wrote for the Prospect at the time, Musk’s fingerprints and associates remain all over the pseudo-agency. Chief among them is his longtime friend and investor, Antonio Gracias.
Gracias has been at DOGE for some time, first as a purveyor of Social Security misinformation, and now as chief of its immigration task force in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Similar to Musk, Gracias currently faces questions surrounding his time commitments with DOGE and its effect on his several other private-sector jobs. You see, Gracias remains CEO of Valor Equity Partners, a private equity investment manager handling $17.5 billion in assets, including hundreds of millions of dollars of public employees’ state and local pension funds.
This past June, the AFL-CIO published an informative report on Gracias, highlighting his role at DOGE and proposing due diligence questions regarding its impact on his capacity to appropriately fulfill his fiduciary responsibilities to Valor.
Even excluding his time at DOGE, Gracias’s work portfolio paints a picture of a man stretched thin indeed. He serves as both CEO and chief investment officer at Valor and is a member of each of the firm’s investment committees. According to his Valor biography, Gracias is also director of several companies in Valor’s portfolio, including SpaceX, AI infrastructure company WEKA, and delivery drone manufacturer Zipline. He’s a trustee of the Aspen Institute, board member of World Business Chicago, and a member of the board of visitors for Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Chicago Law School. Quite a busy schedule.
Heading Valor’s investment decisions would seem to be a full-time job by itself. In addition to its investment management services, Valor also has an extensive venture capital portfolio—their incomplete portfolio lists over 350 investments—including investments in defense company Anduril and each of Musk’s companies. Gracias has a fiduciary duty to devote significant time and attention to ensure these investments are well managed and in the best interests of investors.
Gracias has been at DOGE for some time, first as a purveyor of Social Security misinformation, and now as chief of its immigration task force in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Similar to Musk, Gracias currently faces questions surrounding his time commitments with DOGE and its effect on his several other private-sector jobs. You see, Gracias remains CEO of Valor Equity Partners, a private equity investment manager handling $17.5 billion in assets, including hundreds of millions of dollars of public employees’ state and local pension funds.
This past June, the AFL-CIO published an informative report on Gracias, highlighting his role at DOGE and proposing due diligence questions regarding its impact on his capacity to appropriately fulfill his fiduciary responsibilities to Valor.
Even excluding his time at DOGE, Gracias’s work portfolio paints a picture of a man stretched thin indeed. He serves as both CEO and chief investment officer at Valor and is a member of each of the firm’s investment committees. According to his Valor biography, Gracias is also director of several companies in Valor’s portfolio, including SpaceX, AI infrastructure company WEKA, and delivery drone manufacturer Zipline. He’s a trustee of the Aspen Institute, board member of World Business Chicago, and a member of the board of visitors for Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Chicago Law School. Quite a busy schedule.
Heading Valor’s investment decisions would seem to be a full-time job by itself. In addition to its investment management services, Valor also has an extensive venture capital portfolio—their incomplete portfolio lists over 350 investments—including investments in defense company Anduril and each of Musk’s companies. Gracias has a fiduciary duty to devote significant time and attention to ensure these investments are well managed and in the best interests of investors.
https://prospect.org/power/2025-07-14-afl-cio-report-is-doges-antonio-gracias-mishandling-retiree-investments/