Meet the Palm Beach billionaire who paid $2 million for a private visit to the White House with Trump
Last month at a Palm Beach charity gala, billionaire investor Herbert Wertheim spent $2 million to secure one of America’s most exclusive and contentious invitations: a private White House visit with President Donald Trump.
The winning bid happened at a charity event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate—an event benefiting the children of Palm Beach police officers and firefighters. Organizers said the gathering raised a record $7.5 million for first responders’ scholarships and local services. Wertheim’s purchase of the lunch included roundtrip travel on financier Thomas Peterffy’s private jet, a perk donated jointly by Peterffy, Trump, and philanthropist Lynne Wheat.
“It is certainly for a good cause,” Wertheim said in an with the Palm Beach Post. “We were certainly pleased to be able to do that.”
A White House spokesperson told the reward was cleared by White House counsel and no legal conflicts of interest were found. Presidents from both parties have long hosted high-profile donors with lavish rewards and appointments, but watchdog groups have criticized the Trump administration’s use of big-ticket charity events to trade face time with the president—even when donations go to a charitable cause.
Wertheim, an optometrist and philanthropist, founded Brain Power Inc., a medical equipment manufacturer and supplier. The businessman—whose 2026 net worth is around , per Forbes—is also a major figure in Palm Beach real estate. Last year he bought a in Manalapan, a town known for its nearness to Mar-a-Lago that has recently drawn a wave of billionaire homebuyers, including cofounder and Trump confidant Larry Ellison.
Trump has made a habit of using his Mar-a-Lago property as a hub for powerful billionaires and executives at lavish charity galas, where auction items like private lunches or Oval Office meetings often fetch millions. The most recent event raised $7.5 million, and invitations to candlelight dinners during the president’s term have come with a seating price.
Mar-a-Lago’s role
The ultrawealthy have been happy to participate to get closer to a president who maintains close one-on-one relationships with business executives. In the run-up to Trump’s second inauguration and throughout his second term, CEOs and tech leaders—including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos—have all visited Mar-a-Lago, and some have cut out travel time entirely by buying lots next to Trump’s estate. Bruce Richards, a millionaire hedge fund manager, purchased a property last year that’s one street down from Mar-a-Lago—an investment that reportedly gives buyers guest privileges at the club without paying the .
Ethics advocates have long criticized Trump’s fundraising tactics as “pay-to-play.” Early in his first term, watchdogs raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest from actions like Mar-a-Lago events. Throughout his first term, Trump may have racked up more than 3,400 such conflicts of interest—including foreign officials visiting Trump properties and taxpayer spending directed at Trump businesses—according to a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group. This week, the Democratic National Committee released a statement attacking Trump’s appearance at a fundraiser dinner held in Washington over the weekend.
“It’s a presidency that seems to be up for sale to the highest bidder. And that’s not great for America,” Jordan Libowitz, CREW’s communications director, told the Palm Beach Post in reference to the most recent Mar-a-Lago auction where Wertheim won.
To be clear, Trump is far from the first president to use face time with the commander-in-chief to secure billionaire donations—a bipartisan practice. Between 1993 and 1996, Bill Clinton let donors stay overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom, with other perks like meals, golf outings, and jogs with the president. During the Obama years, so-called bundlers who donated the legal maximum, brought in new donors, and were rewarded with prestigious presidential appointments.