Former President Barack Obama has agreed to speak at an investment bank’s annual health care conference for a fee of $400,000, according to several reports.
Fox Business reported Monday, citing unnamed senior people at Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., that Obama agreed to speak for $400,000 at a conference run by the firm. According to those sources, Fox reported, Obama signed the contract but can back out based on scheduling or personal concerns.
According to a report by the Financial Times published Tuesday, an unnamed source familiar with the arrangement confirmed that Obama agreed to give a keynote speech at the conference but declined to say what he might do with the fee.
“Regardless of venue or sponsor, President Obama will be true to his values, his vision, and his record,” Obama spokesman Eric Schultz said in an email to TPM. “I’d just point out that in 2008, Barack Obama raised more money from Wall Street than any candidate in history — and still went on to successfully pass and implement the toughest reforms on Wall Street since FDR.”
An auction in February for rights to books by Barack and Michelle Obama exceeded $65 million, according to a report by the Financial Times, setting a new record for U.S. presidential memoirs.
