type: timeline_event Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported in January 2025 that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had secretly received $80,000 from a dark money fund while serving as Governor of South Dakota—a payment she failed to disclose on her federal ethics forms. The payment represented a 10% cut of funds she had raised for the fund, essentially a commission on political fundraising that she had not disclosed when submitting mandatory financial disclosure forms as part of her cabinet confirmation process.
The undisclosed payment fit a pattern of self-dealing that had characterized Noem's time as governor. In a separate incident that attracted national attention, Noem had intervened with state officials to pressure them to approve a real estate appraiser's license for her daughter, Kassidy Peters, after regulators had denied the application. State officials complied following meetings with the governor's office that they described as pressuring them to reverse the denial. Additionally, Noem had used South Dakota state funds and a state aircraft for personal travel. ProPublica subsequently published additional reporting in mid-2025 documenting the dark money payments in greater detail.
The failure to disclose the $80,000 payment on federal ethics forms raised questions about whether Noem had intentionally concealed the income from senators evaluating her nomination. As DHS Secretary overseeing a $90 billion budget and vast contracting operations, Noem's track record of monetizing public office through undisclosed financial arrangements drew scrutiny from oversight organizations. The pattern of conduct—taking undisclosed payments, intervening in regulatory decisions for family benefit, and using public resources for personal purposes—established what ethics watchdogs described as a systematic approach to treating government service as a vehicle for personal enrichment.