Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reported receiving $4 million in book advances over the past year from Skyhorse Publishing, a company owned by longtime friend and business associate Tony Lyons, according to his newest annual financial disclosure. Lyons also leads a network of Make America Healthy Again groups, some of which accept political contributions and corporate sponsorships from health-related companies, The New York Times reported in a syndicated investigation.
The filing, signed by an HHS ethics official on Sept. 17, lists two advances of $2 million each, according to NPR, which obtained the financial disclosure document. One planned book is titled Unsettled Science, a twist on the phrase "settled science," which is often used to describe the evidence for vaccine safety. The disclosure also records more than $270,000 in gifts, mostly flights and lodging.
HHS says the secretary followed the rules. Department spokesperson Emily Hilliard told the Times that Kennedy "complies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations, and financial disclosure requirements." She added that he works with career HHS ethics officials to disclose his financial interests, gifts, and outside activities.
For ordinary families, this is more than a Washington dispute. Kennedy oversees the agencies that set vaccine recommendations, approve drugs and screening tests, and run Medicare and Medicaid. Disclosure rules exist so the public can judge whether the people shaping those decisions have financial ties to anyone with a stake in the outcome. No agency has found that Kennedy broke a rule, and the separate Office of Government Ethics had not signed off on the filing when NPR reported on it.
The Money in Kennedy's Latest Filing
According to the Times, Kennedy and Lyons reached the book agreement in August 2024, the same month Kennedy ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump. In an ethics filing before taking office, Kennedy pledged not to "engage in any writing, editing, or promotional activities" associated with the books, but he did not promise to turn down the advances. The second advance is for a book called A Defense of Israel. The records also list a $10,000 payment for a third book, America's Path Back to Moral Leadership, and say two of the three books were already written.
The filing shows that Kennedy's wife, actress Cheryl Hines, received $210,000 in consulting fees from MAHA Action, an advocacy nonprofit also led by Lyons. Security consultant Gavin de Becker, a longtime friend, provided $126,000 worth of lodging at his Washington, D.C., home and nearly $150,000 in airfare for trips to Greece and Fiji. De Becker told the Times that he has no business with HHS and that the gifts reflect a years-long family friendship.
The report was also late. It was due May 15, was filed Aug. 13 after an extension, and was revised four times in September before ethics officials provided it to NPR.
Ethics Specialists Raise Questions
Government ethics specialists said the size and timing of the payments deserve scrutiny. "Those are large amounts of money for a government's public servant to receive while he is in office," Virginia Canter of the anticorruption nonprofit Democracy Defenders Fund told NPR. She questioned whether the payments could amount to a prohibited supplementation of a federal official's salary.
Kathleen Clark, a government ethics law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told NPR it "seems very weird" for Kennedy to accept advances for books he had promised not to write or edit while in office. She also pointed to a July post on Kennedy's personal X account about his earlier Skyhorse book on Dr. Anthony Fauci, even though his ethics agreement bars promoting those books.
Ethics experts told the Times that Unsettled Science raises particular questions, because federal rules bar officials from accepting outside pay for writing a book related to their official duties. Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said the consulting fees paid to Hines "reeks of conflict of interest."
These are expert opinions, not official findings. Lyons did not respond to the Times, and Hines could not be reached for comment.
Ties to Vaccine, Cancer Test, and Drug Decisions
The financial links matter because several of Lyons' groups work on issues that come before Kennedy's department. The MAHA Center, which Lyons leads, sold corporate sponsorships for a MAHA Summit in Washington next week, the Times reported. One top sponsor is Grail, which is seeking FDA approval for its Galleri multi-cancer blood test. An FDA advisory panel endorsed that test on Sept. 23, according to the KFF Health News morning briefing. The Times noted that the test performed poorly at detecting cancers in two large studies.
MAHA Action also backs a federal bill to end the liability protections that vaccine makers have under a 1986 law. De Becker wrote a Skyhorse book alleging government suppression of information about brain damage from childhood vaccines, and he has written forewords to two books about ketamine, a drug Kennedy has promoted as a depression therapy. Clark told the Times that such gifts undercut public confidence that HHS decisions on childhood vaccines and ketamine will rest on the public interest.
The people with the most at stake are parents weighing a changing childhood vaccine schedule, adults considering new cancer screening tests, and patients with depression following reviews of ketamine treatments. None of this changes current medical advice. Families with questions about a vaccine, test, or treatment should talk with a pediatrician or primary care clinician.
The Office of Government Ethics review is the next formal step, and its sign-off or any request for changes would become part of the public record. Next week's MAHA Summit is likely to draw attention to which health companies are paying to take part. HHS says Kennedy complied with every rule, outside experts dispute whether the arrangements fit federal ethics standards, and the open question is whether regulators or Congress will act.
Key Questions Answered
What did Kennedy's financial disclosure show? It lists $4 million in book advances from Skyhorse Publishing and more than $270,000 in gifts, mostly flights and lodging, received over the past year.
Who is Tony Lyons? He owns Skyhorse Publishing and leads several MAHA-related groups, including MAHA Action, the MAHA Center, and the MAHA Institute, according to The New York Times.
Did Kennedy break federal ethics rules? No agency has made that finding. HHS says he complied with all rules, while several ethics experts have raised questions. The Office of Government Ethics had not signed off when the filing was reported.
Why does this matter to health consumers? HHS oversees vaccine policy, drug and test approvals, and Medicare. Financial ties to groups with interests before the department can affect public trust in those decisions.
Does this change any vaccine or medical guidance? No. Current recommendations are unchanged. Questions about specific vaccines or tests should go to a clinician.
What happens next? The Office of Government Ethics review is pending, and next week's MAHA Summit may bring new scrutiny of its corporate sponsors.
Published by Medicaldaily.com
