'Crossed the line': Jared Kushner‘s billion-dollar overseas business deals raise suspicions

10 April 2024

Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump — has built a 10-figure investment fund made up almost entirely from foreign sources. His overseas business activity is starting to draw increased scrutiny from Congress as his father-in-law hopes to retake the White House in November.

The New York Times reported this week on how Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, has amassed roughly $3 billion, 99% of which has come from overseas. Some of the largest chunks have come from foreign governments where the US government has a strategic interest, like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The Times also reported that Terry Gou, who founded Taiwanese tech company Foxconn, is also investing with Affinity Partners.

Kushner maintained in an interview with the Times that he is following the law despite the "perception" that his business dealings are corrupt.

"Perception, I’ve learned that from my time in politics, is important. But I can’t control what everyone is going to write or say about me," Kushner said.

In March, the Times reported that Kushner was in the midst of developing a massive real estate project in Serbia and Albania, while working alongside former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. That deal — which involves a luxury hotel in the downtown area of the Serbian capital city of Belgrade — is expected to be worth approximately $500 million. The project also entails the development of an island off the coast of Albania to become a high-end luxury resort.

Kushner's business activity isn't drawing concern from just Democrats, however. According to the Times' Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Eric Lipton, House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) has also criticized Kushner. In a 2023 interview with CNN, Comer said the ex-president's son-in-law getting a $2 billion investment from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund "crossed the line of ethics." Kushner also received roughly $200 million from both Qatar and the UAE.

Additionally, former Reagan administration official J. Robinson West told the Times that he was concerned about the sheer amount of money Kushner was raising, how fast he was bringing it in and the business model of Affinity Partners.

"A lot of people leave government and become lobbyists or they start consulting firms," West said. "I think it’s fair to say that the spirit of public service ... those days are past."

Like West, former National Security Adviser John Bolton also suggested that Kushner's pattern of success courting foreign investment was suspicious. Bolton — a longtime Republican who also served as United Nations ambassador during George W. Bush's administration — hinted that Kushner was behaving less than ethically.

"Jared’s success with foreign funds leads to the question of what dealings he was having with them while he was still in the administration," Bolton told the Times.

Click here to read the Times' full report.

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