US President Barack Obama’s wealth totaled between US$2.3 million and US$7.7 million last year, financial disclosure forms showed on Monday.
The records also show the Obama family dog, Bo, is worth US$1,600. The Portuguese water dog was a gift to Obama, his wife Michelle and their two children from the late senator Edward Kennedy.
The records show the Obamas had retirement savings accounts with the mutual fund company Vanguard and checking accounts at J.P. Morgan Chase and Northern Trust. The also own Treasury bills and notes.
In addition, the couple have college savings accounts for their daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, eight.
The figures do not include the value of their home in Chicago.
Much of Obama’s wealth comes from royalties from his two best-selling books Dreams from My Father and Audacity of Hope, both of which were published before he became president.
Tax returns for the Obamas for last year, made public in April, showed they earned US$5.5 million, mostly from book royalties.
Meanwhile, an immigration judge in Boston has granted asylum to US President Barack Obama’s aunt, allowing her to stay in the US and possibly become a citizen in about six years, her lawyers said on Monday.
Zeituni Onyango, 57, who lives in public housing in south Boston, is the half-sister of Obama’s late father and is from Kenya. She moved to the US in 2000 on a valid visa and had been seeking asylum since 2002.
Judge Leonard Shapiro reached his determination on Friday. Her lawyers announced it on Monday at their offices in Cleveland, Ohio. While people seeking asylum must show that they would face persecution if they returned to their homeland, the exact basis of Onyango’s claim, and the judge’s decision, remained private.
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