RFK Jr.'s $4 Million Book Advances and the Ethics Questions They Raise
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received $4 million over the last year in book advances from allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement.
The payments were for upcoming books from Skyhorse Publishing and were first reported by The New York Times. The New York Times The Guardian
According to his 2026 disclosure, the total came as two separate $2 million advances from Skyhorse in the last year. NPR That matches what Kennedy said before confirmation, when he disclosed expected advances of $2 million to $4 million for two books. An advance, in publishing, is money paid up front against future sales.
Skyhorse is based in New York City and is owned by Tony Lyons. Lyons is president of Maha Center and leads Maha Action. The Guardian That puts the publisher, the advocacy nonprofit and the political group under the same leader.
The ethics paperwork dates to late 2024 and early 2025. Kennedy signed his nominee financial disclosure report on December 21, 2024. He signed a supplement to his ethics agreement in January, sent with his amended disclosure in February 2025. Office of Government Ethics Director David Huitema sent a letter dated February 1, 2025 with an amendment to the nominee report. In a 2024 filing, Kennedy pledged not to do writing, editing, marketing or promotional work for books while in government service.
The 2026 forms also list housing and travel from private sources. Kennedy accepted $126,500 in housing in Washington, D.C., staying at a vacation home owned by Gavin de Becker. De Becker also provided nearly $45,000 in round-trip airfare to Greece and nearly $97,000 in round-trip airfare to Fiji.
De Becker has a longer financial history with Kennedy. He donated at least $10 million to Kennedy's Super PAC in 2024, with $9.65 million returned. A Super PAC is an outside group that can raise and spend large sums in elections. The disclosure also lists $210,000 in consultation fees from Maha Action to Cheryl Hines.
An HHS spokesperson told The New York Times that Kennedy complies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations and financial disclosure requirements.
The broader context here is how ethics rules work for senior officials. Financial disclosure reports and ethics agreements are meant to make outside income, gifts, travel and past promises visible before and during service. Advances count as income to report even if the books are not yet out. Ethics officers usually focus on whether any writing, editing or promotion happened during the service period.
Looking at what this means for oversight, three threads will likely draw attention. The first is the overlap between publisher and political infrastructure, since the advances come from a house owned by the head of aligned MAHA entities. The second is the scope of the 2024 pledge on book work during service, and how future disclosures describe work on these titles. The third is the pattern of travel and housing from a single donor with past Super PAC ties, which must be listed under disclosure rules but does not alone answer questions about access or influence.
In my view, the next documents matter more than the current statements. Amended disclosures, publisher schedules and any OGE correspondence will show whether the advances remain payments for future work or become linked to activity during service. For specialists who follow ties between advocacy groups, affiliated publishers and appointees, that paper trail is the map.
