A House Judiciary Committee member is accusing White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner of enriching himself by not revealing his stake in a real estate business on his financial disclosure forms — a move from which Kushner may have profited.
“It appears [Kushner] ended up being the beneficiary of that omission,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) told Newsweek. “He enriched himself by failing to disclose the asset.”
Kushner’s stake in the company, Cadre, was an “administrative error,” according to Kushner’s lawyer but Newsweek reports that it allowed Trump’s son-in-law to maintain a stake in a start-up as it attracted investors and doubled its venture funding.
Kushner submitted his financial disclosure form on March 9 to the Office of Government Ethics, with the company he co-founded with his brother Joshua and a Harvard classmate not specifically listed. Newsweek lays out how different Kushner’s disclosure was from how he eventually amended it:
Kushner’s lawyer says Cadre was not specifically cited on the March 9 form because his holding company, BFPS Ventures, acquired his interest in Cadre on February 17. That transaction appears to be noted on his financial records as a $100,000 to $250,000 sale. But that amount does not match subsequent disclosures. When Kushner finally amended his financial disclosure form on July 21, he valued his interest in Cadre from $5 million to $25 million.
The outlet reports that his failure to include the full value of Cadre in his filing may have allowed him to hold onto most of his interest rather than divest. Additionally, the company may not have been as attractive to investors attracted to the company’s White House ties.
Left-wing billionaire George Soros was one of the initial investors of the project, who reportedly opened up a $250 million line of credit between his offices and Cadre. But it raises the question as to whether a conflict of interest could have arisen. Representatives for Cadre told Newsweek Kushner has a “small, passive investment” in the company, but no operational or advisory role.
“You can have foreign governments or other individuals who have significant interests before Jared Kushner. This is the man responsible for Middle East peace talks and the American Innovation office, Virginia Canter, executive branch ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Newsweek.
“The point is, Cadre could result in a benefit to him and there’s no way for us to have any insight or to hold him accountable,” she said, before adding that it points to a “systematic problem” considering Kushner’s previously reported problems with his security filings.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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