PAWNEE, Okla. (The Oklahoma Post) Jan. 20, 2026
While Oklahoma families grapple with rising grocery prices and small businesses absorb crippling tariff costs, the state’s top law enforcement official belongs to a wealth class that’s adding trillions to their fortunes through stock market gains.
Even as markets tumbled Monday on President Trump’s latest tariff threats, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.4 percent and the Dow shedding 596 points amid what CNBC described as “a flight from U.S. assets,” Oklahoma’s wealthiest citizens remain insulated from the volatility that devastates working families. Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s estimated $50 million fortune places him firmly in the top 10 percent of Americans who hold 87 percent of all stocks and mutual funds. When markets surge, the wealthy capture nearly all the gains. When markets fall, they weather the storm through diversified holdings in real estate, private businesses, and government bonds that ordinary Oklahomans cannot access. For families living paycheck to paycheck and absorbing tariff costs on groceries and household goods, market swings mean anxiety and impossible choices. For the Drummond class, they mean spreadsheet adjustments.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who campaigned as a political outsider fighting corruption, sits firmly in America’s wealthiest 10 percent. His estimated $50 million net worth places him among an elite group that has captured an unprecedented share of the nation’s economic gains while working families fall further behind.
The Great Wealth Transfer of 2025
In the second quarter of 2025 alone, America’s top 10 percent added $5 trillion to their wealth, reaching a record $113 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. These wealthy Americans now hold over 87 percent of all corporate stocks and mutual fund shares. Meanwhile, the bottom half of Americans have seen minimal wealth gains, with their total wealth increasing only 6 percent over the past year.
The concentration has reached a tipping point. The wealthiest 10 percent now account for 50 percent of all consumer spending in the United States, the highest level ever recorded. Two Americas exist side by side, one thriving on stock portfolios and corporate dividends, the other struggling to afford groceries and keep small businesses afloat.
The Tariff Tax on Working Families
President Trump’s 2025 tariffs were sold as a way to protect American workers and bring manufacturing home. The reality has been far different.
The United States collected $187 billion more in tariff revenue in 2025 than in 2024, a nearly 200 percent increase. Those tariffs function as a hidden tax paid by American businesses and consumers, adding approximately $1,100 to $2,400 per household annually.
Oklahoma small business owners initially tried to absorb these costs. But as 2026 began, those same businesses started passing 80 percent of tariff expenses to consumers through price increases, especially on low margin items like groceries. For working families already stretched thin, these increases can mean choosing between food and rent, medicine and utilities.
Small business owners face an impossible choice. Absorb costs that threaten bankruptcy, or raise prices and lose customers. Some families, desperate to keep businesses afloat or pay medical bills, have been forced to consider reverse mortgages and predatory lending schemes that put family homes at risk.
Drummond’s Business Empire
According to his LinkedIn profile and public records, Drummond is the majority owner and principal of Blue Sky Bank, with 15 locations across Oklahoma and Texas, including branches in Tulsa, Cleveland, Pawhuska, Cushing, Wagoner, Fairfax, Weatherford, Stillwater, Dallas and Fort Worth.
He also owns Drummond Communications, described as US Cellular’s largest national agency with over 50 locations; Post Oak Lodge and Retreat, an executive training and retreat center northwest of Tulsa; an Osage County cattle ranch spanning over 8,000 acres; and Drummond Law, a Tulsa law firm he founded in 1999.
During his 2022 campaign for Attorney General, Drummond announced he was willing to spend $2 million of his own money on his second bid for the office. While he keeps his actual wealth private, his business holdings and family connections place him firmly among Oklahoma’s wealthiest citizens.
A Legacy of Land and Wealth
Gentner Drummond comes from the prominent Drummond ranching family, one of the largest land owning families in Oklahoma and the United States. As of 2017, the Drummond family owned 433,000 acres. In 2022, the family was the largest landowner in Osage County, owning approximately 9 percent of the entire county.
The Drummond family’s wealth traces back to Frederick Drummond, who arrived in Oklahoma in 1886. After working as a clerk for Osage Mercantile Company in Pawhuska, he founded the Hominy Trading Company in 1903 and built a trading and ranching empire.
In 1926, the Drummonds partnered with another ranching family to purchase land from William Hale, who was later convicted for aiding and abetting the murder of Osage man Henry Roan, a crime depicted in the book and film “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Where Corporate Profits Go
U.S. corporate profits have reached near all time highs since the pandemic. However, companies are using these profits primarily for stock buybacks and dividends to shareholders rather than increasing worker pay or reinvesting in employees.
The money generated on Wall Street is not making its way down to warehouse workers and cashiers. Instead, it flows to those who already hold stocks, the same top 10 percent who own 87 percent of all shares.
This creates what economists call a K-shaped recovery. Stock market wealth surges for those who own assets. Wages stagnate for those who work for wages.
The disconnect is complete. Stock market performance no longer reflects how most Americans are doing economically. It has become a measure of how well the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations extract wealth from everyday Oklahomans.
Pandemic Relief for the Wealthy
While corporate profits soared and working families struggled, the Drummond family collected millions in taxpayer funded pandemic relief designed for struggling small businesses.
The Pioneer Woman Mercantile, owned by Ree Drummond (who is married to Ladd Drummond, a second cousin to Attorney General Gentner Drummond), received a $1,689,971 PPP loan through Arvest Bank in spring 2020. The Frontier reported in July 2020 that the SBA data at that time showed zero in the jobs retained field. The loan later appears in public PPP datasets with 248 jobs retained and a status of closed/paid in full, a designation that includes loans forgiven after SBA payment. The discrepancy has never been publicly explained.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s businesses received far more. His three companies, including his Osage County cattle ranch, Drummond Communications (US Cellular’s largest national agency with over 50 locations), and Drummond Law (a Tulsa law firm), collected $1.9 million in the first PPP round through First Bank of Oklahoma in 2020.
The second round raises accountability questions. In 2021, those same three Drummond businesses received an additional $1.7 million processed through Blue Sky Bank, the institution Gentner Drummond owns as majority shareholder and chairman. Blue Sky Bank earned $62,337 in processing fees plus $8,161 in interest from administering loans to its owner’s businesses.
Combined, Drummond family entities received approximately $5.4 million in forgivable PPP loans. This for a family with an estimated net worth exceeding $250 million, owning 433,000 acres making them Oklahoma’s largest private landowners, and collecting $33.87 million from the Bureau of Land Management since 2004 for wild horse and burro holding contracts.
The arrangement was legal under PPP rules that required only self certification of need with no proof of actual financial distress. But it exemplifies how pandemic relief flowed upward to the already wealthy. A landmark study by economists affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research and Federal Reserve found approximately 75 percent of PPP’s $800 billion went to the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while only $13 billion reached the bottom 20 percent.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis characterized the program as “poorly targeted, expensive, and regressive,” estimating nearly 75 percent of beneficiaries were “unintended recipients.”
For Oklahoma families facing tariff costs and stagnant wages, the image of their Attorney General collecting $1.7 million in forgivable loans through his own bank while sitting on a $50 million fortune captures the disconnect between those who write the rules and those who live under them.
Gentner Drummond: $3.6 Million Through His Own Bank
Gentner Drummond, who was sworn in as Oklahoma’s 20th Attorney General on January 9, 2023, Wikipedia and announced his gubernatorial campaign on January 13, 2025, KOSU received far more substantial PPP assistance for his portfolio of businesses.
Drummond’s three businesses, his Osage County cattle ranch, Drummond Communications (the largest U.S. Cellular agency in the nation with over 50 locations), and Drummond Law (a Tulsa law firm), received $1.9 million in the first PPP round through First Bank of Oklahoma in 2020.
The second round raises conflict-of-interest questions. In 2021, those same three businesses received an additional $1.7 million processed through Blue Sky Bank—where Gentner Drummond serves as majority owner and chairman of the holding company board. Blue Sky Bank earned $62,337 in processing fees Yahoo! plus $8,161 in interest from administering these loans to its owner’s businesses.
The Oklahoman first reported this self-dealing arrangement in May 2022 during Drummond’s AG campaign. Yahoo! His campaign defended the loans as “absolutely vital to keeping his workforce employed, which would not have been possible otherwise,” and stated the bank followed “the same application and forgiveness process” for Drummond’s companies as for other customers. Market Profile
Blue Sky Bank: a century-old family institution
Blue Sky Bank traces its origins to 1905 in Pawhuska, originally operating as Bank of Commerce before becoming National Bank of Commerce, then NBC Bank, then Citizens Bank of Oklahoma, and finally rebranding as Blue Sky Bank on November 1, 2016. The bank has grown to over $1.24 billion in combined assets after mergers.
Multiple Drummond family members hold leadership positions: Gentner Drummond serves as Chairman of N.B.C. Bancshares (the holding company) and as an advisory director on the Blue Sky Bank board itself, his wife Wendy Drummond serves as a board member, and son Alexander Drummond serves as an advisory director. The holding company is N.B.C. Bancshares in Pawhuska, Inc.
While PPP regulations did not explicitly prohibit bank owners from receiving loans processed by their own institutions, the arrangement creates an inherent conflict where the bank—responsible for reviewing applications and determining if the “certification of need” warranted funds—was evaluating applications from its own owner. Yahoo!
How the Drummond Fortune Was Built
Understanding the family’s wealth provides essential context for evaluating their pandemic relief claims. Ladd and Ree Drummond’s combined estimated net worth exceeds $250 million. The extended Drummond family owns approximately 9% of all land in Osage County Wikipedia a county larger than Delaware at nearly 1.5 million acres. Substack
The family has collected $33.87 million from the Bureau of Land Management since 2004 through 19 contracts for their wild horse and burro holding program, averaging roughly $2 million annually. These payments continue alongside undisclosed farm subsidies.
The Drummond land empire originated with patriarch Frederick Drummond, who arrived in Osage County in 1886 from Scotland. Oklahoma Historical Society The family operated the Hominy Trading Company Wikipedia Oklahoma Historical Society and accumulated land during the 1920s “Reign of Terror” period documented in Killers of the Flower Moon a history that remains controversial. Jack Drummond later admitted to markups like “$50 or $60 for a $6 or $8 shirt” when selling to Osage customers. Wikipedia
Conflicts of Interest: What the Rules Allowed
The PPP program’s design enabled the arrangements the Drummonds utilized. Banks faced no financial risk since loans were 100% government-guaranteed, creating incentives for quick approvals. Borrowers only had to “self-certify” that loans were necessary, no proof of actual financial distress was required.
For loans under $150,000, applicants submitted a simplified one-page form with no documentation required. Blueridgebank Even larger loans faced minimal scrutiny: the GAO found only 0.2% of manually reviewed loans were denied forgiveness, and only about 2% of all loans received manual review.
No formal ethics complaints or regulatory actions regarding the Drummond PPP arrangements appear in public records. Drummond’s campaign emphasized that his businesses “experienced tremendous hardship and financial difficulties during the pandemic,” though specifics were not provided. Market Profile
The Broader Pattern: PPP’s Benefits Flowed Upward
The Drummond situation reflects a documented national pattern. A landmark study by 10 economists affiliated with the NBER and Federal Reserve found approximately 75% of PPP’s $800 billion flowed to the wealthiest 20% of households. Of $510 billion distributed in 2020, nearly $370 billion went to business owners in the top income quintile while only $13 billion reached the bottom 20%.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis characterized the program as “timely, poorly targeted, expensive, and regressive,” estimating nearly 75% of beneficiaries were “unintended recipients.” Foundation for Economic Education
Agricultural operations qualified generously under the CARES Act. The beef cattle ranching sector alone received $2.8 billion across 215,554 operations. FederalPay.org Wealthy ranching families could claim Schedule F farming profits as “payroll” for self-employed individuals, Greencountryfcu enabling loan amounts not tied to traditional W-2 employees.
Legal but Emblematic
The Drummond family’s PPP loans appear to have followed the program’s rules as designed—rules that academic research and government oversight have since characterized as enabling wealthy beneficiaries at the expense of smaller businesses and lower-income households. The arrangement where Oklahoma’s current Attorney General received $1.7 million in taxpayer-backed forgivable loans processed through his own bank Wikipedia represents the type of self-dealing the program’s minimal guardrails permitted.
For a family with an estimated net worth exceeding $250 million, 433,000 acres of land, and $33.87 million collected through BLM wild horse and burro holding contracts since 2004, the $5.4 million in forgivable pandemic relief raises fundamental questions about a program Congress marketed as saving “Main Street.”
When People Have No Value
At some point, a society must reckon with a system where wealth concentrates so dramatically that ordinary people cease to matter in economic calculations.
When the Attorney General comes from wealth that most Oklahomans cannot fathom, what incentive exists to prosecute white collar crime, banking fraud, or corporate malfeasance? When political power aligns with concentrated wealth, are all sins protected?
These are not rhetorical questions. They are urgent concerns for a state where working families struggle under tariff costs while their top law enforcement official belongs to a class adding trillions to their fortunes through stock portfolios.
Oklahoma deserves leadership that understands the economic reality facing ordinary families. Instead, it has an Attorney General whose personal fortune ties him to the very systems ordinary Oklahomans struggle against.
The question for Oklahoma voters is simple: Can someone from a family controlling 9 percent of an entire county and operating a multimillion dollar business empire truly represent the interests of working families paying more for groceries because of tariff policies that benefit the wealthy?
Writing By: Robbie Robertson | Editing by Robbie Robertson
Editor’s Notes:
Source:
Federal Reserve distributional financial accounts data, Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price and employment data, Bureau of Economic Analysis corporate profits data.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reports on corporate profits and tariff impacts on consumer prices, Tax Foundation analysis of Trump tariffs, National Bureau of Economic Research tariff study, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs economic research.
LinkedIn and ZoomInfo professional profiles for Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office official biography, Wikipedia entries for Gentner Drummond and the Drummond family of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture entry on Drummond Ranch, University of Central Oklahoma Special Collections A.A. Drummond papers.
David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” John R. Drummond’s “The Drummond Family History,” Terry Hammons’ “Ranching From the Front Seat of a Buick: The Life of Oklahoma’s A.A. ‘Jack’ Drummond.”
Morningstar market analysis, CNBC wealth inequality reporting, Center for American Progress tariff impact research, Roosevelt Institute concentrated wealth study.
Data sources: FederalPay.org PPP database, SBA public loan data, ProPublica Coronavirus Bailout database, The Frontier (July 2020), The Oklahoman (May 2022), The Lost Ogle, NBER Working Paper on $800B PPP, GAO Reports 23-105331 and 25-107267, SBA Office of Inspector General Report 23-09, Wikipedia, Bloomberg “In Trust” podcast, The Land Report, U.S. Treasury PPP guidance.
Support Independent Journalism
At The Oklahoma Post, we report on stories that others overlook; from local courtrooms to statewide accountability. We rely on reader support to stay independent. Your contribution helps keep the public informed. If you’d like to help us keep publishing local voices and independent reporting, consider making a one-time donation today. Every contribution makes a difference.
Got evidence, events, birthdays, obits or inside info?
Email The Oklahoma Post confidentially: editor@theokpost.com
And for the record: unlike the courthouse clique, The Oklahoma Post runs on facts, not dark money.
© 2026 The Oklahoma Post |
By The People’s Popular Paper | Oklahoma Special Report
2025 -The Oklahoma Post – TheOKPost.com is dedicated to delivering relevant news and information to Oklahomans, sharing their stories, pictures, and experiences. The content on this website includes contributions from various individuals and links to external public and privately owned sources. The views and opinions expressed in user-generated content are solely those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect The Oklahoma Post. The Oklahoma Post does not independently verify the accuracy of third-party contributions and rely upon contributors to fact-check their work. By sharing links and allowing open contributions, TheOKPost.com exercises the right to free speech and providing a platform for diverse perspectives.
