Lutnick Exposed for Falsely Claiming 70K People Bought Residency Cards for $5M As Nicki Minaj Is Revealed as Sole Buyer

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is under scrutiny after admitting under oath to selling only one of Trump's 'Gold Card' visas, which was worth $1 million (roughly £740,000), plus a $15,000 (around £11,000) DHS processing fee. This admission comes after claiming to have sold 70,000 of the high-priced US residency program last year.

The 'Gold Card' residency initiative that would supposedly allow wealthy individuals to secure US residency in exchange for US$5 million was tied to US President Donald Trump's administration.

Claims of Mass Sales vs Reality

Lutnick had previously suggested that the residency programme was seeing strong demand, at one point claiming that tens of thousands of these cards, with the highest tier (platinum), reportedly priced at $5 million (£3.7 million) in contributions, had been sold.

However, under oath, that narrative unravelled. Lutnick's testimony revealed that only a single residency approval had actually been granted through the program, sharply contradicting earlier public statements about numerous approvals.

The 'Gold Card' was initially announced in June 2025 and was formally revealed three months later via an executive order, per The Daily Beast. The order read, 'I hereby announce the Gold Card, a visa program overseen by the Secretary of Commerce that will facilitate the entry of aliens who have demonstrated their ability and desire to advance the interests of the United States by voluntarily providing a significant financial gift to the Nation.'

However, Shev Dalal-Dheini, Senior Director of Government Relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said in a statement to Axios that, inasmuch as the program was not approved by Congress, applicants could face legal issues and risk forfeiting millions in payments. 'At the very minimum, they'd have to sue the US government to get it back,' Dalal-Dheini said.

Lutnick's Testimony; Nicki Minaj's Involvement

While appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the Department of Commerce's proposed 2027 funding plan, the secretary faced a question from Rep. Grace Meng about the total number of applications approved since the initiative was launched.

Lutnick's response was, 'The process was recently resolved with DHS, which runs the programme, and they do a $15,000–the most serious vetting and analysis of any potential applicant in the history of government–usually it's $600, these pay $15,000 for an extraordinary vet.'

'So, they have recently approved one person, and there are hundreds in the queue who are going through the process,' he continued.

Lutnick's statement starkly contrasts with his March 2025 statement on the All-In Podcast, where he claimed that 1,000 of the Trump Gold Cards had been sold ahead of their launch. Linked to the program was Nicki Minaj after a post on social media in January suggested she had received the 'Gold Card' after attending a presidential summit.

Minaj shared an image of the card and later implied it had been given to her at no cost, adding that she was completing citizenship paperwork. In the post, the rapper wrote about 'Finalising that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President.'