Blind trust

A blind trust is a

trust in which the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust, and no right to intervene in their handling. In a blind trust, the trustees (fiduciaries, or those who have been given power of attorney) have full discretion over the assets. Blind trusts are generally used when a trust creator (sometimes called a settlor, trustor, grantor, or donor) wishes for the beneficiary to be unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest

between the beneficiary and the investments.

conflicts of interest

when they direct government funds to the private sector.

Use by US government officials to avoid conflicts of interest

The US federal government recognizes the "qualified blind trust" (QBT), as defined by the Ethics in Government Act and related regulations.^[1] In order for a blind trust to be a QBT, the trustee must not be affiliated with, associated with, related to, or subject to the control or influence of the government official.^[2]

Because the assets initially placed in the QBT are known to the government official (who is both creator and beneficiary of the trust), these assets continue to pose a potential conflict of interest until they have been sold (or reduced to a value less than $1,000). New assets purchased by the trustee will not be disclosed to the government official, so they will not pose a conflict.^[2]

British party funding

In the

Members of Parliament

or parliamentary candidates" ^[4] This was incorporated into the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as section 57 "Return of donations where donor unidentifiable".^[5]