Reporters barred from China event seeking investment in Kushner project

Organisers barred journalists on Sunday from a publicly advertised event in Shanghai to attract Chinese investment in a US real estate project linked to the family of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law in exchange for immigrant visas.

The two-tower luxury apartment complex in New Jersey, One Journal Square, is being developed by KABR Group and the Kushner Companies, which until recently was headed by senior White House advisor Jared Kushner, the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

The developers are seeking to raise $150 million, or 15.4 per cent of funding for the project, from investors through the EB-5 visa programme, according to marketing materials posted by the event’s organiser, immigration agency Qiaowai.

The controversial EB-5 programme allows wealthy foreigners to, in effect, buy US immigration visas for themselves and families by investing at least $500,000 in certain development projects.

"Sorry, this is a private event," said a man stopping journalists from entering a function room on Sunday afternoon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai.

Guests at the event said Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, spoke for about 10 minutes, including about her family’s humble roots.

According to the New York Times, Meyer attended a similar event in Beijing on Saturday and told the audience of about 100 people the project “means a lot to me and my entire family".

Jared Kushner, whose White House portfolio includes relations with China, sold his stake in Kushner Companies to a family trust early this year. His lawyer said in a statement in March that Kushner was fully complying with ethics rules, removing himself from active participation in his prior businesses and divesting assets.

A Kushner Companies spokeswoman declined to comment in a New York Times article about the Beijing event published on Saturday.

The Times story said Meyer did not respond when asked if she was concerned about possible conflicts of interest facing her brother. Journalists from the Times and Washington Post were removed from Saturday’s Beijing event, the newspapers reported.

The programme is popular among wealthy Chinese looking to shift assets abroad or move overseas, but it has come under fire in the United States.