EXCLUSIVE: West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore Joins Calls For BlackRock CEO Larry Fink To Resign

West Virginia Republican Treasurer Riley Moore became the second state chief financial officer to call on Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset management company, BlackRock, to resign.

Moore called for Fink’s resignation during an exclusive interview with The Federalist over a recent letter from North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell to BlackRock’s board of directors demanding Fink step down. Last Friday, Folwell admonished Fink for placing personal political priorities, of the kind embedded in so-called Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, over the best interest of the company’s clients.

“Unfortunately, Larry Fink’s pursuit of a political agenda has gotten in the way of BlackRock’s same fiduciary duty. A focus on ESG is not a focus on returns and potentially could force us to violate our own fiduciary duty,” Folwell wrote. “Having lost confidence in his leadership to responsibly steward investors’ resources, I request, quite simply, that he resign or be removed from the asset management firm’s leadership team immediately.”

When asked whether Fink should step down, Moore agreed.

“Yes, I think Larry Fink should resign,” Moore told The Federalist, adding, “I don’t think he’s obviously somebody who’s too concerned about what policymakers in the United States think.”

In October, Fink took a victory lap for antagonizing American politicians on both sides of the aisle as head of the global financial management behemoth, which has roughly $8 trillion in assets. While Republicans charge BlackRock with manipulating their constituents’ tax dollars to pursue anti-energy policies against them, Democrats say BlackRock doesn’t do enough to tackle the left’s climate priorities.

“I’m now being attacked equally by the left and the right, so I’m doing something right,” Fink said at the annual membership meeting for the Institute of International Finance in October.

“That’s an interesting way to think of that,” Moore told The Federalist about the comment. “I think what he’s done is make everybody mad.”

The West Virginia treasurer pointed out that BlackRock lost $2 trillion under Fink just this year. The day after Fink’s remark about bipartisan frustration, Reuters reported BlackRock’s assets fell below $8 trillion following a $10 trillion high in January.

“Does that sound like a guy who’s doing something right?” Moore said. “If anything, it’s a cautionary tale to focus on the maximization of your return for your beneficiaries and your shareholders.”

Last year, Moore led a coalition of 15 GOP state treasurers who threatened to yank $600 billion in taxpayer assets away from firms that refuse investment in fossil fuels. Now several are following through on their pledge to protest “woke capitalism” with divestment from BlackRock, a Wall Street pillar of ESG investing to reach net-zero carbon emissions. Fink’s desire to conduct and maintain business with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the detriment of U.S. security has also drawn the ire of lawmakers.

In his letter to BlackRock’s board of directors last week, Folwell informed the firm’s leadership that the financial giant may no longer oversee the state’s $14 billion from the