Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was already one of the most controversial Cabinet members of his generation based solely on his job performance. Now, his latest financial disclosure has opened another round of ethics questions in a brutal and increasingly familiar pattern.

A year ago this month, nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a scathing joint opinion essay in The New York Times. They wrote that Kennedy’s work “is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced.”

Former CDC Director William Foege, one of the essay’s writers, offered an even harsher assessment of the secretary. “Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands.”

Kennedy’s conduct in office, however, is only one piece of the larger story surrounding his tenure. A steady stream of additional controversies has included difficult questions about his financial relationships, government resources, travel and political activity.

The New York Times reported that Kennedy accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the past year. According to his latest financial disclosure form, the money and gifts came from close allies working to advance his Make America Healthy Again agenda.

Ethics experts told the Times that those financial relationships may violate federal rules that bar government officials from profiting from their positions. The relationships also raise questions about whether Kennedy can remain independent and impartial while serving as the country’s top health official.

The book advances came through a company owned by Tony Lyons, Kennedy’s longtime publisher. Lyons cofounded a political action committee that supported Kennedy’s failed presidential campaign and now helps oversee several entities connected to the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Some of those entities accept contributions and corporate sponsorships from health related companies, according to the report. Lyons’ network also includes MAHA Action, an advocacy group that paid Kennedy’s wife $210,000 in consulting fees.

The Times noted that federal rules prohibit officials from receiving compensation “from any source other than the government” for writing books related to their official duties while in office. That restriction places Kennedy’s lucrative book arrangement at the center of the latest ethics debate.

Richard Painter, who served as a White House ethics counsel under George W. Bush, gave the Times a blunt assessment of the optics. “You have a situation like this, it just looks horrible.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services defended Kennedy’s conduct. The spokesperson told the Times that Kennedy “complies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations and financial disclosure requirements.”

Even with that denial, the new reporting joins an extraordinary sequence of controversies surrounding Kennedy. All of the cited episodes have emerged over the past month or so, turning the latest disclosure into another entry in a rapidly expanding record.

The Times report followed a controversy over Kennedy moving money from the Office of Minority Health to pay for his security detail. That episode came after reporting that Kennedy received more than $250,000 worth of free flights to Fiji and Greece from a security consultant and supporter.

Before that, Kennedy spoke at a conference opposing vaccines, where he vowed to take chemtrails seriously. He also faced allegations that he used military plans while trying to help Republican congressional candidates.

Kennedy was additionally accused of misleading senators about his efforts in Samoa years before he became a powerful White House Cabinet secretary. In a normal administration, this relentless sequence might have Kennedy updating his résumé, but in 2026, his position as health secretary nevertheless appears safe.