CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In comparison, Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings may come off even more like ‘nothing burgers’ after Jared Kushner garnered $2 billion from a fund controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Instead of ketchup, Kushner’s ‘billions burger’ has blood on it. MBS henchmen, in 2018, kidnapped, murdered and dismembered MBS critic, Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sunday, The New York Times reported that MBS had overruled the objections of the financial advisers to the Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund, approving a $2 billion investment in Kushner’s virgin private equity fund - Affinity Partners.
Kushner has zero experience in operating such a fund. Prior to becoming an aide to his father-in-law Donald Trump when he was president, Kushner ran his family’s commercial real estate business after his father was convicted and imprisoned.
According to the NYT story, the Saudi funds financial advisors warned against giving the money to Kushner on multiple grounds:
“The inexperience of the Affinity Fund management.”
Due diligence “unsatisfactory in all aspects.”
“Public relations risk.”
“Excessive” asset management fee. That management fee will amount to $25 million a year for Kushner
Kushner had told the Saudi fund advisers he had intended and expected to raise $7 billion for his fledging private equity firm. Yet to date, the Saudi’s appear to be the primary investors. According to Security and Exchange Commission filings Kushner’s Affinity Partners has $2.5 billion invested. While $2 billion came from MBS the source of the other half billion is unknown.
When he was a senior aide in The White House, Kushner soft-pedaled condemnation of Khashoggi’s brutal killing and Saudi military mayhem in Yemen, to usher through mega $ millions arms deals with the Saudi’s. He also continued to pursue a close association and friendship with MBS.
Those are some of the valid reasons critics see the Saudi Kushner ‘investment’ more as blatant ‘payoff’ for past favors or a ‘bribe’ for future favors should Trump be back in The Oval Office in 2024.
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