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Inside Ivanka And Jared’s Ethics-Free Money Machine

Inside Ivanka And Jared’s Ethics-Free Money Machine

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Despite the pandemic, which took a toll on many businesses across the United States, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner reportedly made substantial profits during their time working for the U.S. government under former President Donald Trump's administration.

According to a report published by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the affluent couple's final financial disclosure reports, which cover the duration of 2020 up to Jan. 20, 2021, signal monetary profits of "$23,791,645 and $120,676,949 in combined outside income."

The analysis also highlights a number of questionable aspects of Trump's disclosure reports that center on "fixed guaranteed payments she arranged to receive from a few entities to prevent a situation in which she would have a stake in their performance while she worked in the White House."

CREW reports:

Starting in 2018, Trump began receiving annually $100,000 from T International Realty LLC, $800,000 from TTT Consulting LLC, and $600,000 from TTTT Venture LLC. In her latest financial disclosure report, however, she reported receiving an extra $62,500 from TTTT Venture LLC and only $362,500 from TTT Consulting LLC. While the extra income from TTTT Venture LLC could be explained by the longer reporting period covered by her annual/termination report, it is not clear why she received less than half of the $800,000 guaranteed payment from TTT Consulting LLC in her final year working for the government.

As for Kushner's financial disclosure report, CREW noted that although the former White House senior advisor had committed to selling his $25 to $50 million stake in Cadre over conflict of interest due to his work for the government, "the Office of Government Ethics withdrew the certificate of divestiture related to his plans to sell his interest in the company in June 2020," per his request.

Kushner also unveiled "Kushner Companies BVI Limited," a new company he has formed offshore in the British Virgin Islands. The publication reports that it appears the new offshore company, which is one of many for Kushner, was formed in an effort to restructure some of his assets.

The latest reports come as former President Donald Trump, as well as his family business, faces a number of pending investigations into potential fraud and tax evasion.

Ivanka Trump and Kushner took no salaries from the government, according to previous disclosures; advisers of their status tend to make around $183,000 a year. But their decision to forgo this payment isn't necessarily a good thing, from an ethics perspective. Government workers are typically expected to make their money from the government itself so that they aren't improperly influenced by or dependent on outside entities while doing work for the American people. Kushner and Ivanka Trump could only choose to decline their salaries because they had so much income and wealth from other sources.

Guardian: Kushner Company Awash In Mysterious Offshore Cash

Guardian: Kushner Company Awash In Mysterious Offshore Cash

No wonder U.S. intelligence agencies were wary about granting Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a security clearance.

A new report from The Guardian found that a real estate company Kushner co-owns has taken in $90 million in foreign funding since he began working for Trump in the White House.

Given the funding comes from an opaque offshore account, it’s unclear which foreigners are investing in the real estate company.

However, the Guardian reported, based on two unnamed sources, that at least some of the money came from Saudi Arabia — whose oppressive government the Trump administration has failed to admonish for the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

In fact, Kushner himself refused to condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s murder. Kushner wouldn’t even say that the crown prince was responsible for the murder, although the CIA has determined that it was the crown prince who ordered Khashoggi’s death.

A spokesman for Kushner declined to comment to the Guardian about the shady foreign cash and where it came from.

But the fact that a company tied to Kushner raked in so much foreign money raises conflict of interest questions, especially as Kushner has been tasked with negotiating serious foreign policy issues such as Middle East peace.

“It will cause people to wonder whether he is being improperly influenced,” Jessica Tillipman, a lecturer in government ethics and anti-corruption laws at George Washington University’s law school, told the Guardian.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

Report: Kushner Firm Receives $800 Million Federally Backed Real Estate Loan

Report: Kushner Firm Receives $800 Million Federally Backed Real Estate Loan

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Kushner Cos., Bloomberg News is reporting, has received $800 million in federally backed debt to purchase apartments in Virginia and Maryland. Kushner Cos. is a high-end real estate company owned by the family of White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

The loan, according to Bloomberg News, was issued by Berkadia, which is co-owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Jefferies Financial Group — and the deal is backed by the government-owned Freddie Mac. Bloomberg News received its information from someone who was familiar with the transaction but agreed to be interviewed only on condition of anonymity.

Spokespersons for Kushner Cos., Freddie Mac and Berkadia did not respond to Bloomberg’s interview requests.

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Jared Kushner’s attorney Abbe Lowell, has insisted that the president’s son-in-law is not involved in the management of Kushner Cos. In an e-mail in February, Mirijanian told Bloomberg News, “As part of an ethics agreement he has and has followed, Mr. Kushner has had no role in the Kushner Cos. or its activities since joining the government over two years ago. He is walled off from any business or investment decisions and has no idea or knowledge of these activities.”

Kushner Cos. was founded in 1985 by Jared Kushner’s father Charles Kushner, who gave the operation of the company to his son after being convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005. Charles Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison but only served 14 months.

In February, Bloomberg News reported that Kushner Cos., in a $1.5 billion deal, was purchasing 6030 apartments from the private equity firm Lone Star Funds.

IMAGE: Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, left, in the Oval Office with Vice President Mike Pence, the president (seated) and former staff secretary Rob Porter on January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst 

 

Whoops! Jared Kushner Made More Mistakes On His Ethics Disclosure

Whoops! Jared Kushner Made More Mistakes On His Ethics Disclosure

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica. 

Jared Kushner’s ethics disclosure filing misstated the financials on two Brooklyn loans, the latest in a long series of errors and omissions on the form.

A Kushner representative confirmed the errors, attributing them to data entry and accounting mistakes. The representative said the figures will be revised in the next annual filing, which is due soon.

The form has been updated at least 40 times since Kushner first submitted it in March 2017. Each update can contain multiple revisions.

The newly revealed errors center on a pair of loans that Kushner Companies made to projects at 215 Moore Street in Bushwick and 9 DeKalb Avenue in downtown Brooklyn.

Kushner’s disclosure suggests that these loans could have generated more income from interest in a roughly yearlong period than the entire value of the loans themselves.

Jared Kushner’s ethics disclosure lists incorrect income ranges for loans made to real estate projects at 9 DeKalb Avenue and 215 Moore Street in Brooklyn, New York.

A Kushner representative said the correct income ranges are $50,001–$100,000 on the 9 DeKalb loan and $15,001–$50,000 on the 215 Moore loan.

The loans were part of a push by Kushner Companies, announced in 2016, to get into the business of lending money to other developers. The company has now exited from both of those loans. The lender on the 215 Moore project in Bushwick is now Bank of Internet, as we previously reported.

It’s still not clear whether Kushner Companies had undisclosed partners in its lending program. The loan to 215 Moore was for more than $30 million. But Kushner’s disclosure on the loan gives a value of just $100,000 to $250,000. Kushner’s representative told ProPublica that the value represents Kushner’s share.

A separate form that Kushner filed to get security clearance has also been marked by numerous omissions and revisions, most famously involving his meetings with foreign contacts, including Russian officials.

Update: Kushner’s representative sent an additional statement explaining the updates to Kushner’s disclosure form.

Mr. Kushner has not filed 40 revisions of his disclosure report. He filed his report twice with the Office of Government and Ethics. The initial report was made on March 31, 2017 and, following the OGE review process, a second report was filed and then certified by OGE on July 20, 2017. An addendum to the report was later filed on January 3, 2018. Revising a report during the OGE review process is not uncommon, and the Integrity database will note a “revision” for each day in which a change has been made to the draft. The other 30-something revisions referred to in the ProPublica article merely refer to revisions to the draft working document that were being made in consultation with OGE so that the second submission could be certified.