Eric Cantor Joins Wall Street Investment Bank for $3.4M After House Leadership

Moelis & Company, a Wall Street investment bank, announced the appointment of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) as vice chairman and managing director just two weeks after his congressional career ended. According to SEC filings, Cantor’s compensation package included a $400,000 base salary, $400,000 signing bonus, and $1 million in restricted stock, totaling at least $3.4 million. The appointment came barely two months after Cantor suffered a shocking primary defeat to Tea Party challenger Dave Brat, ending his 14-year congressional career and derailing his ambitions to become Speaker of the House.

Wall Street’s Friend in Congress

During his time in Congress, Cantor was considered a staunch friend of Wall Street despite having no banking or finance background. As House Majority Leader from 2011 to 2014, he played a crucial role in blocking financial reform legislation and defending the interests of major banks and investment firms. His voting record consistently favored deregulation, and he maintained close relationships with financial sector executives and lobbyists. This pro-business stance made him an attractive hire for Moelis & Company, which sought to leverage his political connections and insider knowledge of congressional dynamics.

Access Without Lobbying

While federal law prohibited Cantor from personally lobbying his former colleagues for one year after leaving office, the restriction proved largely meaningless for his employer’s purposes. Moelis CEO Ken Moelis explained that Cantor’s value lay in “opening doors” and providing “strategic counsel” to the firm’s global clients, which included corporations, governments, and financial sponsors. Critics noted that Cantor “knows decision-makers and he can gather extraordinarily valuable political intelligence”—precisely the kind of insider access that makes former congressional leaders invaluable to Wall Street firms, regardless of technical lobbying restrictions.

Revolving Door Acceleration

Cantor’s remarkably swift transition from House leadership to a multi-million dollar Wall Street position exemplified the accelerating revolving door in the 2010s. The speed of his hiring—announced before he had even officially left Congress—suggested pre-existing relationships and possibly earlier negotiations. His compensation package far exceeded typical congressional salaries, revealing the massive financial incentives that await lawmakers who maintain friendly relationships with corporate interests. As a former policy aide noted, firms hire people like Cantor because “he knows the levers of power” and can help clients navigate Washington’s regulatory environment.

Significance

Cantor’s case illustrated how the revolving door had evolved from a subtle corruption to a brazenly transactional system by the 2010s. The staggering compensation—representing an immediate 17-fold increase over his $223,500 congressional salary—made explicit what was previously implied: loyalty to Wall Street interests while in office would be rewarded with extraordinary wealth upon departure. His appointment came during a period of growing public anger about income inequality and political corruption, making the optics particularly damaging to public trust in government. The fact that Cantor faced no public censure or legal consequences demonstrated how normalized revolving door practices had become, with ethical concerns dismissed as naive objections to standard career progression. His trajectory from House Majority Leader to Wall Street vice chairman in a matter of weeks became a textbook example of legalized corruption in American politics.