WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s personal wealth — up to $250 million — survived the nation’s economic crisis, according to figures released Friday. But his pledge to sell off interests that conflict with his GOP stances did not extend to some investments in a family charity.

The new records make clear that Romney is much wealthier than President Barack Obama or any of Romney’s GOP opponents. The immense fortune controlled by Romney and his wife, Ann, is worth $190 million to $250 million — within the same range as his 2007 presidential financial disclosure records, his campaign said.

Romney’s financial records, submitted Friday to meet a deadline set by the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, valued his fortune at $86 million to $264 million.

The campaign, however, reported his wealth within a narrower range.

The holdings reflect Romney’s success in running a major Boston venture capital firm and his stewardship of his own investments on Wall Street — a strong base in his drive for influential donors and the Republican nomination. But amid a deep recession and populist outrage, Romney’s wealth could prove double-edged, as seen in the controversy brewing over his comment Thursday that “corporations are people.”

The former Massachusetts governor was criticized by GOP presidential rivals in 2007 because some of his vast array of investments reaped profits from corporations with interests in Iran, China and embryonic stem research. In response, Romney pledged that his financial portfolio “would conform to my positions.”

At the time, Romney urged companies to divest interests in Iran and opposed Chinese human rights violations and the creation of new human stem cell lines for medical research. Although insistent that he had no sway over the blind trust that controlled his investments, Romney said his Boston-based trustee would sort out any conflicts.

 

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