Jared Kushner and his family were cruising the Mediterranean in the summer of 2021, a few months after the end of his father-in-law, Donald Trump,’s tumultuous first term. While they were anchored off the Albanian coast, he asked a friend to help him arrange a meeting with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, on the yacht.
Over dinner, Kouchner and the cordial Rama discussed how Albania's stunning Adriatic coast is often overlooked by wealthy tourists cruising between Italy and the Greek islands.
"Kushner didn't mention investments," Rama recalled. "He just asked about Albania... They knew practically nothing about Albanian history." The Kouchners left the next day.
When they met again in Davos a few months later, Rama said Kouchner told him he loved Albania. Kouchner then met Mohamed Alabar, a Gulf billionaire who is developing a luxury marina in the Albanian port of Durres, and the two talked about potential investments, Rama said. "I told them it would be incredible."
Kushner visited Albania again in the summer of 2023 with a larger entourage, including Richard Grenell, a staunch Trump ally who served as special envoy for the Balkans during his first term and was recently named special envoy in his second. “They stayed for about 7 days, visiting various locations,” Rama said. “This time, Kushner was direct: We want to invest.”
On December 1,4, just three weeks before Trump's second inauguration, the Albanian government gave Kushner preliminary approval to develop a $XNUMX billion luxury resort on Sazan, Albania's only island in the Mediterranean. It is one of the most significant investments to date for his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which Kushner founded shortly after Trump's first term ended, primarily with funding from Saudi Arabia.
The Albania deal provides a glimpse into the business empire Jared Kushner built after leaving his position as a senior adviser in the first Trump administration. During that time, he was a key figure on a number of foreign policy issues, particularly in the Middle East, where many diplomats viewed him as an effective problem solver.
Before entering politics, Kushner was a real estate investor, with a primary focus on New York. However, since leaving Washington, he has built a global portfolio with stakes in companies and properties across Eastern Europe, the Gulf and Latin America.
Many of these deals were made possible by connections he made while in government — or by the reputation he earned as one of Trump's most trusted advisers. Kushner has shown an ability to turn those relationships and proximity to power into major investments.
One example is his current position as an intermediary for Gulf investors looking to invest in Israel's dynamic private sector.
Kushner says his business model is based on his ability to spot trends before others. "I'm very comfortable being a contrarian," he told the Financial Times. "I was willing to support Trump when people around me thought it wasn't popular or wise. I believed I could make progress in the Middle East when everyone said I was crazy."
Even before Trump's reelection, Kushner faced accusations of potential conflicts of interest. Democratic politicians suggested that Gulf investors might see investing in Kushner's businesses as a way to curry favor with Trump.
Those questions are likely to become even more relevant now that Trump is back in the White House. Although Kushner holds no official position, he has made himself available to advise the administration on certain issues.
He is particularly interested in a potential rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, two countries in which he has deep political contacts. However, that would mean advising on an issue that directly affects the Saudi state, which is also one of the largest investors in his fund, Affinity Partners.
"I worry that Kushner, like other members of the Trump family, could gain financial benefit by using their status to suggest they can influence administration policy," said Michael Melsner, a law professor at Northeastern University.
Kouchner insists there is no conflict of interest and that most of the criticism is politically motivated. "These are not legitimate investigations," he said. "This is a politically motivated attack without any substance."
As the heir to a New York real estate empire, Kushner made his first profit while studying at Harvard in the early 2000s, buying apartments in a working-class suburb of Boston for $9 million, which he later sold for almost twice that amount after the area went through a process of gentrification.
But his key test came just before the financial crisis. He took over the family real estate business in 2005 when his father, Charles Kushner, was sentenced to prison for tax fraud and witness tampering. Charles was accused of hiring a prostitute to compromise his brother-in-law (his sister's husband), who was cooperating with authorities. Trump pardoned him in 2020, and he has now been nominated to be the next US ambassador to France.
"I'm very comfortable being a contrarian. I was willing to support Trump when people around me thought it wasn't popular or wise. I believed I could make progress in the Middle East when everyone said I was crazy," Kushner said.
The Kushners first gained attention in 2007 when they sold off properties in outer New York City to finance the purchase of a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue for $1,8 billion. The timing was poor, and the value of the property soon fell below the amount owed, leading to years of negotiations in which Kushner and his father managed to stave off creditors' demands and continued to invest heavily, investing $14 billion in real estate.
By 2011, Kushner had sold the retail portion of the building for $2018 billion to reduce debt, but financial problems persisted well into Trump's first term as president. Canadian real estate giant Brookfield paid $1,1 billion in XNUMX to take control of the building, allowing Kushner to pay off debt and retain an interest in the building's ground lease.
By then, Kushner was already one of the most influential advisors in the White House. He had managed to build close relationships with key players in the Middle East, forming friendships with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates.
Kushner led the US negotiations on the Abraham Accords, which led to the normalization of Israel's relations with the UAE and Bahrain. He managed to turn his diplomatic success into a business opportunity.
In January 2021, he launched Affinity Partners, an investment firm focused on sectors such as artificial intelligence and clean energy. A key early investor was the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which invested $2 billion — virtually all of the firm's initial capital, which came from external sources. Last year, Kushner raised an additional $1,5 billion from the UAE and Qatar, and now manages a fund worth $4,6 billion.
His fledgling private equity group, based in a Miami waterfront skyscraper that also houses billionaire financier Carl Icahn, started with about two dozen employees, including former members of the Trump administration. They include Avi Berkovic, who led negotiations on the Abraham Accords, Kevin Hassett, Trump’s economic adviser, and Thomas Storch, a former deputy director for international economics. The investment team also includes Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s former foreign minister.
However, the firm has experienced significant personnel turnover, with some employees returning to government positions.
He believes his unique contacts in Israel and the Gulf make him a trusted intermediary. "Affinity is a place where people come together to achieve what would otherwise not be possible," Kushner says.
Kushner is currently negotiating deals in the artificial intelligence and data center sectors that could be worth billions of dollars. He is also in talks about a major contract in Mexico for a waste management company - another country with which he had close ties while in the White House.
An investor close to Kushner says he is "focused on building an investment firm." He adds, "He definitely has something to prove in that area."
After initially shying away from real estate investments, Affinity has re-entered the real estate sector, but this time far from Manhattan.
The first deal relied on connections with political leaders established during Trump's first term. In Belgrade, Affinity leased the site of the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense, which is currently being demolished and converted into a luxury hotel and residential complex.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who had good relations with the first Trump administration, told the Financial Times last year that he was very proud of the project. "This will attract even more investors, and that will bring even more people to Belgrade," he said. "This is good for Serbian-American friendship."
Grenell, who played a key role in diplomacy in the Western Balkans towards the end of Trump's first term, presented the deal as part of a broader attempt to bring Serbia closer to the West and away from Russia, its traditional ally.
"Grenel never gave up," says Zorana Mihajlović, the former deputy prime minister of Serbia, who held the position for eight years, until 2022. "He is always here."
Rama, the Albanian prime minister, is also enthusiastic about the investment in his country. Trump's close relationship with the luxury project "is a huge added value, I can't hide that," he says. "After Jared announced the deal, real estate prices in (the nearby resort of) Vlora jumped significantly."
By focusing on a super-luxury clientele, Kouchner's project will help Albania profit from tourism without the negative impact on natural reserves that mass tourism development would bring, Rama explains. "This country needs super-luxury like a desert needs water," he added. "What you earn from 500 yachts is equal to what you earn from 40.000 budget tourists."
Some ethics experts believe that Trump and his family members may feel emboldened to act without consequences, in part because of the behavior of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who has faced criticism for his business dealings, including in Ukraine.
However, the Middle East is a region that brings both the greatest potential profits, but also possible conflicts of interest.
During a speech at Harvard last year, Kushner called Prince Mohammed bin Salman a "friend" and said the two spoke regularly, taking some of the credit for including Saudi Arabia in the first Trump administration's strategic policy in the Middle East.
Kushner said Trump came to power prepared to take a "tougher" stance on Saudi Arabia, until Bin Salman presented him with his plans to modernize the kingdom, from allowing women to drive to cracking down on extremism. Shortly after, Saudi Arabia was chosen as Trump's first foreign visit.
"Kushner has a close relationship with Mohammed bin Salman, and those who have done business with him say he is culturally adept at working in the region," says Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst and now head of Middle East research at RBC Capital Markets. "He listens more than he lectures and invests time in relationships with key players."
"If the Trump administration is really serious about normalization (between Saudi Arabia and Israel), I imagine they'll want Jared to be part of the team, even if he's more in the background this time," says one analyst.
Although he will not take on an official role in the administration, Kushner says, "I'm here to help and advise when needed." However, even an informal role in the administration's diplomatic activities will bring increased attention and scrutiny.
Since its inception, Affinity Partners has been the subject of suspicion in Washington, particularly among Democratic lawmakers, who have characterized the millions in annual fees the fund receives from investors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE as attempts at foreign influence.
"Affinity investors may not have been motivated solely by business interests, but also by a desire to direct foreign government money to members of President Trump's family, specifically Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump," Senator Ron Wyden said as part of an investigation led by the Senate Finance Committee.
Concerns among some national security experts are that Kushner is profiting from connections he gained while in government and that, given his closeness to Trump, he could be used to promote the interests of foreign countries on sensitive diplomatic issues.
In October, Senator Wyden and Congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the Congressional Oversight and Accountability Committee, asked the Department of Justice to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Kushner's business activities.
"While on the payroll of the Saudi government, Mr. Kushner simultaneously acts as a political advisor to Trump and as an informal diplomat and political advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other foreign officials. Despite his blatant political activities," they said in a joint statement.
Despite the criticism, Kushner has never been accused of any wrongdoing. "These people won't admit that I have incredible success in the Middle East," he says of Democratic politicians. "I have these great relationships precisely because of the success I have had, the success for which I have been criticized at every turn."
Kouchner insists that Affinity has always operated in accordance with ethical standards. "A lot of these people will say it's all a conflict of interest. But I'm not going to let that stop me."
Some ethics experts believe that Trump and his family may feel emboldened to act without consequences, in part because of the behavior of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who has faced criticism for his business dealings, including in Ukraine. Hunter Biden was convicted of a second crime unrelated to his business dealings, for which he was later pardoned.
Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics attorney during the George W. Bush administration, says that ideally, the president's children, and his son-in-law, should recuse themselves from business transactions that could create the appearance of a conflict of interest.
"It used to be thought that members of the president's family should avoid situations where it might appear that people were doing business with them to curry favor with the president," Painter says.
"But, unfortunately, I think with both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, when it comes to Hunter Biden... we kind of crossed that line."
Prepared by: NB
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