Fox News host Sean Hannity is linked to a group of shell companies that have spent $90 million buying hundreds of homes across the U.S through the help of foreclosures and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Guardian reported Sunday.
More than 870 homes in seven different states have been purchased over the past decade, ranging from large mansions to rentals for low-income families, according to the newspaper.
For some of the mortgages, Hannity reportedly obtained funding from HUD under the National Housing Act loan program, which was first guaranteed under President Obama’s administration.
Secretary Ben Carson’s department recently increased Hannity’s original $17.9 million mortgage for purchases in Georgia by an additional $5 million, records obtained by the Guardian show.
Hannity did not disclose his cooperation with HUD when he had Carson on his show last June, the Guardian noted.
During that segment, Hannity railed against the state of public housing and praised Carson, telling him, “you’ve done a good job.”
“I like the idea of them owning the place,” Hannity said of people who receive housing assistance from Carson’s agency.
“Well, that’s the real ideal,” said Carson.
Spokespeople for HUD and Fox News declined to comment to the Guardian.
However, Hannity’s real estate attorney Christopher Reeve said his client’s property holdings were “highly confidential” and not relevant for the public.
“I doubt you would find it very surprising that most people prefer to keep their legal and personal financial issues private,” Reeve told the newspaper. “Mr Hannity is no different.”
Hannity also never disclosed that he was also a client of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during any of his segments complaining about the FBI investigation into Cohen.
He insisted that Cohen only briefly consulted on real estate matters.
“I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective,” Hannity said.
The shell companies are registered to the offices of Henssler Financial, a wealth management firm. Hannity has had one of the firm’s principals, Bill Lako, appear on his radio show.
Hannity did disclose that he was Henssler’s client and joked that the company took him on as a “charity case.”
The Guardian noted that Carson was not personally involved in any of Hannity’s dealings but does have the power to allow Hannity to convert rental complexes into sellable condos.
The host, however, has criticized former President Obama in the past for the rate of US foreclosures, saying in 2016 there were “millions more Americans suffering under this president.”
Several of Hannity’s properties were bought at a discount after their previous owners defaulted on their mortgages in 2013, the Guardian reported.
Hannity is the hidden owner behind some of these shell companies, a fact his attorney did not dispute in a statement to the newspaper.
