When the reality of the coronavirus first hit U.S. headlines, President Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, put together a secretive "shadow task force" drawn from the private sector and handed out government contracts for medical equipment -- acting on his belief that "free markets" would solve the pandemic, not government. But according to a report from Mother Jones, "Kushner owns a large stake in a real estate company now poised to make money off the economic distress caused by the pandemic that Trump has been unable to tame."
"As part of the $200–$783 million fortune he shares with his wife, Ivanka Trump, Kushner holds an ownership stake worth between $25 million and $50 million in Cadre, a real estate investment firm that he helped start in 2014 with his brother, Joshua Kushner, and Ryan Williams, a college buddy of Joshua," the report states.
Cadre, which is owned by the Kushner real estate company, "obviously has a sharp interest in the ups and downs of the real estate market, and the company has been looking to exploit the current economic misery by investing in distressed properties, particularly hotels," according to Mother Jones.
Cadre's president, Alan Smith, said in September that the pandemic could create "opportunity" in hotels -- an industry that's been hard-hit by the pandemic. The hotel industry has turned to Washington for help, asking for an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program and other specific lifelines.
"According to Cadre, further dislocation in the hotel sector—'forced selling,' as Rosenbloom put it—could be a golden opportunity for Cadre and its owners, including Kushner," Mother Jones reports. "Which raises the question of whether Kushner’s stake in Cadre poses a conflict of interest. After all, he might well be involved in White House discussions regarding coronavirus relief packages."
Read the full report over at Mother Jones.
