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Thursday, Apr. 8, 2021

Is there something mysterious about an eightfold increase in Sen. McConnell’s net worth to almost $24 million between 2005 and 2015?

Olivera Perkins, Lead Stories
no

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did see a dramatic increase in his net worth some years ago. But there is no mystery — his wealth shot up after the death in 2007 of his mother-in-law, a co-founder of a major shipper of freight to China. McConnell's wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, is the eldest of the six daughters of James Si-Cheng Chao and Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who built the company.

Forbes reviewed the will of Elaine Chao's late mother, which showed she left nearly $59 million in assets.

According to McConnell's office, a gift from Chao's father in memory of Chao's mother boosted McConnell's personal worth to more than $7 million.

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