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The most recent financial disclosures of JD Vance have revealed an electic investment portfolio – from the right-wing streaming service, Rumble and a popular Catholic prayer app, to a controversial biotech firm.
The 2022 filings, made to the Senate Ethics Committee, shows that Trump’s running mate also had financial interests in a housekeeping services provider, legal technology developer and student loans assistance company, among others. The Ohio senator has requested an extension on his 2023 filings.
The investments have been made through different companies set up by Vance and his associates, some named in apparent reference to JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
One of those is Mithril Capital Management. Vance got his start in Silicon Valley in 2016 at Mithril, a firm which invests in cutting-edge technologies including AI and robotics, and was founded by his friend and billionaire investor Peter Thiel.
Mithril appears to reference the fictious elvish metal from the fantasy novel series. Vance also has investments through Narya Capital, which he co-founded in 2019, and seems to be named after one of the Rings of Power from the Tolkien novels.
One of Vance’s biggest investments is in the conservative video platform, Rumble, which hosts a number of pundits banned from other social platforms. These include white supremacist commentator Nick Fuentes, accused human trafficker Andrew Tate, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has been ordered to pay nearly $1bn to families of the Sandy Hook school shooting after claiming their children hadn’t been killed but instead were “crisis actors.”
In 2022, Vance held two tranches of Rumble shares, one worth between $100,001-$250,000, and another for $15,001- $50,000, according to his disclosure. Members of Congress are required to declare investments within ranges, rather than specific amounts.
Vance also holds shares in biotech startups including AmplifyBio, a company founded in 2021 to develop “next generation cell and gene therapies”. The Republican held two tranches of shares of AmplifyBio in 2022, worth $50,001- $100,000, and $1,001- $15,000.
The Ohio-based firm tests cell therapies and other drugs, some of which may be derived from stem cell lines, including those recovered from aborted fetuses or live embryos, Rolling Stone has previously reported. AmplifyBio told Rolling Stone that it does not directly use stem cell lines in its testing but also does not require companies it works with to disclose whether such cells were used in development.
The Independent has contacted AmplifyBio about its use of stem cell lines.
Vance has spoken repeatedly of his support for a national abortion ban and voted against the Right to IVF Act in Congress this June.
“What I’ve said consistently is the gross majority of policy here is gonna be set by the states,” Vance told CBS News in May. “I am pro-life. I wanna save as many babies as possible. And sure, I think it’s totally reasonable to say that late term abortions should not happen with reasonable exceptions.”
The Independent has contacted Vance’s campaign for comment.
Vance is also invested in Catholic prayer app, Hallow, which helps users “foster a relationship with God and the peace of prayer through guided prayer and meditation.” Hallow boasts of being “the #1 Catholic App,” and topped the Apple store charts for free apps in February.
Vance held two tranches of shares of Hallow, each worth $1,001-$15,000, according to the 2022 disclosures.
The GOP candidate’s other investments include Mint Apartment Cleaning – a hotel-style, housekeeping startup for apartment buildings that is based in Chicago – and Off The Record, a legal technology platform developer. He held shares between $1,001-$15,000 in each.
Vance also held stocks in supermarket giant Walmart, valued from $50,001- $100,000.
