What is James Comey's Net Worth?
James Comey is an American lawyer who has a net worth of $16 million. When he was going through the Senate confirmation process to become the head of the FBI job in 2013, Comey reported that he had a net worth of $11 million. After leaving the FBI, Come has made a fortune giving private speeches but the majority of Comey's net worth comes from his time serving as general counsel and SVP of Ray Dalio's investment firm Bridgewater Associates, which has been described as the world's largest hedge fund. Comey worked at Bridgewater from 2010 to 2013. In his final year of work at Bridewater alone, his salary was $6 million. He also earned a $3 million profit participation payout the year after he left.
James Comey served as the director of the FBI from 2013 until he was fired by Donald Trump in mid-2017. From January 2002 to December 2003 he served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Comey served as the 31st United States Deputy Attorney General from December 2003 to August 2005. In 2005 he became general counsel and senior vice president of Lockheed Martin. From September 2013 to May 2017 he was the 7th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. James Comey became general counsel at Bridgewater Associates in 2010 and in 2013 he became a Senior Research Scholar and Hertog Fellow on National Security Law for Columbia Law School. Comey is also somewhat notorious for his role in the investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Under his leadership, an FBI investigation into Clinton was announced less than two weeks before the 2016 election. Many people believe this announcement cost Clinton the presidency, handing it to Donald Trump.
Salary and Speech Earnings
When he was director of the FBI, James Comey's salary was $185,000. When he worked at Bridgewater from 2010 to 2013 he earned several million dollars in compensation annually, peaking at $6 million in his final year.
As a private speaker, Comey has been known to earn as much as $200,000 PER SPEECH. That means he currently can earn $15,000 more than his entire annual FBI paycheck from one speaking engagement.
Book Deal
In 2017 James signed a book deal that paid him a $2 million advance. The resulting book "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership" was released in 2018.
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Early Life and Education
James Comey was born on December 14, 1960 in Yonkers, New York to Joan and J. Brien. In the early 70s, the family moved to Allendale, New Jersey, where Comey's father did corporate real estate and his mother worked as a computer consultant. As a teenager, Comey went to Northern Highlands Regional High School. He went on to attend the College of William & Mary, from which he graduated in 1982. Comey subsequently enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, earning his JD in 1985.
Career Beginnings
Following his graduation from law school, Comey worked in Manhattan as a law clerk for US district judge John M. Walker Jr. After that, he became an associate at the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. From 1987 to 1993, Comey worked for the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. While there, he also served as deputy chief of the Criminal Division.
Clinton Administration
Comey joined the Clinton administration in 1996 as managing assistant US attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He also served as deputy special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee and was the lead prosecutor in the case focused on the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.
Bush Administration
In early 2002, Comey became the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. During his nearly two-year tenure, he led the indictment of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas; the prosecution of Martha Stewart; and the indictments of Samuel Waksal and Frank Quattrone, among others. In late 2003, Comey became deputy attorney general. He drew some controversy during his years in this position, particularly for his evasiveness in regard to Bush's domestic surveillance program and for his endorsement of a memorandum approving the use of torture by the CIA. However, Comey objected to a second memorandum and later voiced his opposition to torture techniques.
Private Sector Work
After leaving the Department of Justice in the summer of 2005, Comey became the senior vice president and general counsel at Lockheed Martin. He served in those positions until mid-2010, when he left to become general counsel at the investment management firm Bridgewater Associates. Comey left Bridgewater in early 2013, and was subsequently appointed as a senior research scholar and Hertog fellow at Columbia University Law School. He was also appointed to the board of directors of HSBC Holdings.
FBI Director and Investigations
In 2013, Comey took over from Robert Mueller as the new director of the FBI, confirmed by the Senate for a full ten-year term. His term was clouded by controversy relatively early on, when in the summer of 2015 he launched an investigation into former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while in office. A year later, Comey announced that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges to the Department of Justice related to Clinton's emails. However, less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election in which Clinton was running, Comey decided to reopen the investigation due to new information. This decision was roundly decried by those on both sides of the political aisle, with many averring it cost Clinton the presidency. In 2017, a number of investigations were launched into Comey and the FBI's actions related to Clinton.
Comey and the FBI's other major investigation was of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and of the Trump administration's complicity in it. Due to this investigation, Comey was fired by Trump in May of 2017, eliciting claims that the president had obstructed justice.
Post-FBI
Following his dismissal from the FBI, Comey returned to academia and taught a course on ethical leadership at his alma mater, the College of William & Mary. He also penned his first book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," and wrote some op-eds for the Washington Post and the New York Times.
In the Media
In 2020, Comey's turbulent and controversial tenure as director of the FBI was dramatized in the Showtime two-part television miniseries "The Comey Rule." Written and directed by Billy Ray, and based on Comey's autobiography, it starred Jeff Daniels as Comey and Brendan Gleeson as Trump.
Personal Life
Comey married Patrice Failor in 1987; they had met as students at the College of William & Mary. Together, they have five children, and had a sixth who passed away in infancy. The couple has also fostered children.
Real Estate
In 2010, the year he began working for investment firm Bridgewater, James and wife paid $3.05 million for a 7-bedroom, 7,000 square foot mansion in Westport Connecticut, the same town where Bridgewater is based. In June 2015 they listed this home for sale for just under $4 million. It sold in January 2017 for $2.475 million.
In April 2017 the Comeys paid $2.8 million for an 11,000 square foot mansion in McLean, Virginia.
