# Omeed Malik **Omeed Malik** (b. c. 1979–80, New Jersey) is a former Wall Street prime-brokerage executive whom *New York* magazine called "MAGA world's premier financier." He is co-founder and president of [[1789 Capital]], the venture firm he started in October 2022 with [[Chris Buskirk]] and [[Rebekah Mercer]], where [[Donald Trump Jr.]] has been a partner since late 2024. He also runs the Colombier series of SPACs, co-owns the [[Executive Branch Club]] in Georgetown, and has sat on the board of [[Fannie Mae]] since April 2025. Most of the money-and-access figures the vault tracks hold one position. Malik holds four at once: he raises the capital, takes companies public, owns the room where donors meet officials, and holds a federal board seat. That combination is why he keeps turning up on pages that otherwise have nothing to do with each other. ## Key facts | Field | Detail | |---|---| | Born | c. 1979–80, New Jersey | | Education | BA, Colgate University; JD, Emory University School of Law | | Wall Street | Weil, Gotshal & Manges (corporate lawyer); MF Global; Bank of America Merrill Lynch (managing director, prime brokerage) | | Current roles | President, 1789 Capital; founder, Farvahar Partners; chairman and CEO of the Colombier SPACs; Fannie Mae director; Executive Branch Club co-owner | | Party | Political donations shifted from Democrats to Republicans around July 2019, per public records cited by Wikipedia | | Heritage | Iranian and Pakistani descent (Wikipedia); Jewish Insider describes him as Iranian American | ## Career ### Bank of America and the 2018 exit Malik practiced corporate law at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and moved to MF Global and then to [[Bank of America]] Merrill Lynch. There he was a managing director in prime brokerage, the business that lends to and services hedge funds, and he ran its emerging-manager program. He left in **January 2018**. Bank of America's Form U5, the regulatory termination notice, cited personal conduct that violated firm standards, including interference with the firm's own review. The internal investigation involved a junior female banker's accusation of inappropriate sexual conduct, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the conduct allegedly included pursuing relationships with subordinates (CNBC, April 27, 2018). Malik denied the allegations. He filed a FINRA arbitration claim seeking **$100 million**, alleging defamation, retaliation, breach of contract, and discrimination. His lawyer argued the bank acted against him because of his Middle Eastern descent while keeping white male executives who had misbehaved. In **July 2018** Bank of America settled. Bloomberg reported "an undisclosed multimillion-dollar sum" and Wikipedia describes it as eight figures. ### Farvahar and the turn right (2019–2022) Malik founded **[[Farvahar Partners]]**, a boutique investment bank and broker-dealer, with Joe Voboril (2018 per the Colombier III site, 2019 per Wikipedia). Public records show his political giving moving from Democrats to Republicans the same year, around July 2019. Three years later he co-founded [[1789 Capital]] out of the orbit of the [[Rockbridge Network]]'s 2022 summit. ### The Colombier SPACs Malik's SPACs (full detail at [[Colombier SPACs]]) are the public-market half of the [[1789 Capital]] thesis: the blank-check vehicle supplies the listing for "parallel economy" companies that 1789 might otherwise back privately. See [[SPACs]] for how the structure works. | Vehicle | Merged with | Key dates | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Colombier Acquisition Corp. | [[PublicSquare]] (PSQ Holdings), a "patriotic marketplace" | Shareholder vote July 19, 2023 | Listed on the NYSE as PSQH; Malik was chairman and CEO of the SPAC | | Colombier Acquisition Corp. II | [[GrabAGun]], an online firearms retailer | NYSE debut July 16, 2025 | Ticker PEW; fell more than 20% on its first day; $179M gross proceeds; Trump Jr. joined the board | | [[Colombier Acquisition Corp. III]] | No target announced as of October 2026 | IPO priced February 3, 2026 | $299M in trust after over-allotment; board includes Trump Jr., [[Laura Ingraham]], [[Chamath Palihapitiya]] and [[Blake Masters]] | At the GrabAGun debut Trump Jr. called taking a gun company public at the NYSE "a vindication of all the insanity, all of the 'woke' nonsense." ### 1789 Capital (2022–) The firm has its own page, [[1789 Capital]], which covers the portfolio, the contested fund-size figures, and the federal-contract overlap. The parts that belong to Malik personally are these: - **The thesis.** 1789's "EIG" (entrepreneurship, innovation, growth) screen is built as the inverse of [[ESG]], and Malik's formulation is that portfolio companies should have "no ESG or DEI components in them whatsoever." See [[ESG]] and [[DEI]]. - **The president's son.** Trump Jr. joined after the 2024 election instead of taking an administration post. Malik is widely described as his close friend. - **Growth.** The Boston Globe reported in July 2026 that 1789 now oversees more than $3 billion, up from a few hundred million two years earlier, and that its main fund showed returns of roughly 200% as of June 30, 2026. Holdings named in that piece include [[SpaceX]], [[Anduril]], [[Cerebras]], [[Polymarket]], [[Vulcan Elements]], [[Hadrian]], and [[Axiom Space]]. - **His defense.** Malik told the Globe that he learned of [[Vulcan Elements]]'s $620M Pentagon loan from a company news release and that he has not been to the White House. He also said the firm's edge is knowing administration officials on a personal basis. On the Vulcan bet he said, "It's not like it takes a genius to figure this out." See [[1789 Capital Stake in Vulcan Elements]]. - **[[Tucker Carlson Network]].** In October 2023, 1789 led the roughly $15 million seed round for [[Tucker Carlson]]'s media company (Fortune; Axios). Carlson and [[Neil Patel]] bought out all outside investors by June 2025, and Axios reported the investors made a positive return. ## Political broker ### The Kennedy endorsement (2024) Malik had given to both the Trump and Kennedy campaigns in the 2024 cycle. Starting about a week before the Republican convention, he, Trump Jr., and Carlson held a series of meetings and calls with both candidates to negotiate [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr]]'s exit from the race and his endorsement of Trump (NBC News, August 2024). Kennedy endorsed Trump on August 23, 2024. See [[Anti-Vax Timeline]]. ### Fannie Mae board (2025–) [[Bill Pulte]], director of the [[FHFA]] and chair of both mortgage giants' boards, named Malik to the [[Fannie Mae]] board on **April 15, 2025**. The appointment came a month after Pulte removed 14 directors across Fannie and [[Freddie Mac]], and it brought Fannie's board to nine members (Inman; Bisnow). Pulte had announced that "DEI is dead at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." ### Executive Branch Club (2025–) In April 2025 Malik co-founded the [[Executive Branch Club]] in Georgetown with Buskirk, Trump Jr., and [[Alex Witkoff]] and [[Zach Witkoff]]. Founding memberships cost up to $500,000. Asked about the club, Malik said the founders "developed deep friendships and wanted to be able to catch up" and that "there aren't a plethora of options that are friendly to Republicans." The club page covers the critics and the guest lists. ### Rockbridge and the 2028 money (2026) Malik attended the [[Rockbridge Network]]'s 2026 Nashville summit. In August 2026 he, Buskirk, and Trump Jr. hosted a Southampton fundraiser for [[JD Vance]] that raised more than **$5 million** from about 35 donors (Mediaite; Washington Examiner). The money went to the [[Republican National Committee]], where Vance is finance chair, and the event was widely read as early positioning for 2028. The event exposed a fault line inside the right. Because Malik was an early backer of the Carlson network, pro-Israel conservatives attacked Vance for taking his money. [[Laura Loomer]] wrote that Malik "gave Tucker Qatarlson $15 million dollars to launch the Tucker Carlson Network," which she called a platform for "Holocaust denial." [[Mark Levin]] referred to Carlson's outlet as "Qatarlson's Islamist propaganda operation" (Mediaite; Jewish Insider). So one of the three brokers of the 2024 Trump-Kennedy deal is now a point of contention in the fight over who inherits that coalition. ## Congressional scrutiny (2026) - **January 23, 2026.** [[Elizabeth Warren]], [[Richard Blumenthal]], and [[Andy Kim]] asked the Pentagon about awards to 1789-linked companies. See [[1789 Capital]]. - **July 6, 2026.** Warren, [[Ron Wyden]], and [[Chuck Schumer]] wrote to Malik as one of eleven recipients connected to the Trump family about the May 2026 settlement between President Trump and the Justice Department over leaked tax information. They asked whether 1789 considers itself a "related or affiliated" party shielded by that settlement, and whether any federal investigation or audit of the firm had ended since May 19, 2026. Responses were due July 20. - **August 26, 2026.** [[Jamie Raskin]], ranking member of the [[House Judiciary Committee]], wrote to Malik, Buskirk, and Trump Jr. He cited four portfolio companies: - **Vulcan Elements:** valued at about $200M on Election Day and about $2B after the $620M Defense Department loan and a $50M CHIPS grant in November 2025. The loan request was initiated by [[Peter Navarro]]. - **Anduril:** a $22B Microsoft contract reassigned to Anduril three weeks after the inauguration, and a $20B Army contract in March 2026. - **[[Juul]]:** a $5M stake taken in March 2025, followed by the FDA's July 2025 authorization of the company's products. - **Polymarket:** the closure of the Justice Department investigation and the CFTC's approval of its $112M exchange acquisition, both in July 2025. Raskin wrote that "it is now impossible to believe that your firm's astonishing growth and success are due to anything other than insider political influence and thoroughgoing corruption." He requested six categories of records by September 9, 2026. As a minority member he has no subpoena power, and this page found no public response from the firm as of 2026-10-06. ## Why he matters for the KB Malik is the clearest case in the vault of a **financial engineer turned political broker**. His tools come from Wall Street: prime brokerage, SPACs, and venture marks. He uses them to build a durable conservative economy, and every piece he adds also carries access. The SPACs take parallel-economy companies public. 1789 holds positions that rise in value when the government lends to or contracts with them. The club puts donors and officials in one room. The Fannie Mae seat puts him inside a federally run institution. Political brokering, from the Kennedy deal to the Vance fundraiser, ties it together. Read with [[1789 Capital]] and [[Defense Tech Conflicts of Interest]], he shows that influence in this administration mostly travels through ownership stakes rather than lobbying. ## See Also - [[1789 Capital]] · [[1789 Capital Stake in Vulcan Elements]] · [[Vulcan Elements]] - [[Donald Trump Jr.]] · [[Chris Buskirk]] · [[Rebekah Mercer]] · [[Mercer Family]] - [[Executive Branch Club]] · [[Rockbridge Network]] · [[JD Vance]] - [[Tucker Carlson]] · [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr]] - [[Fannie Mae]] · [[Bill Pulte]] · [[FHFA]] - [[Colombier SPACs]] · [[Farvahar Partners]] · [[PublicSquare]] · [[GrabAGun]] - [[Juul]] · [[Tucker Carlson Network]] - [[Polymarket]] · [[Kalshi]] · [[SPACs]] - [[Peter Thiel]] · [[Blake Masters]] — the surrounding networks - [[Trump Family Corruption Ecosystem]] · [[Defense Tech Conflicts of Interest]]