According to a report from the HuffPost, a company co-owned by Jared Kushner was on the losing end of a lawsuit over violations of consumer tenant laws in the state of Maryland, with the judge issuing a scathing decision,
Kushner -- the son-in-law of former president Donald Trump -- is co-owner of Westminster Management and the company JK2 along with his brother Joshua, which had been accused of violating state laws protecting tenant rights.
According to the report, Administrative Law Judge Emily Daneker ruled Thursday that the company owned by the two brothers "repeatedly violated state consumer protection laws by collecting debts without required licenses, charging tenants improper fees and misrepresenting the condition of rental units."
The judge issued a 252-page decision that called the violations "widespread and numerous."
The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, as part of a series of suits going after 25 companies accused of violations.
As for the judge, the brother's company was cited for charging "illegal fees thousands of times over the course of more than two years, such as wrongly charging more than $332,000 in agent fees," with Judge Daneker writing, "These circumstances do not support a finding that this was the result of isolated or inadvertent mistakes."
The judge did not agree with Frosh's contention that the company, "...illegally misrepresented their ability to provide maintenance services and were not violating consumer protection laws during the entire period alleged by the attorney general," which the Kushner company described as a victory.
According to the report, both the Kushners and the attorney general have 30 days to appeal the decision.
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