Kushner company’s loans scrutinized

WASHINGTON — White House officials are looking into whether $500 million in loans that went to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate company violated ethics policies or criminal law, according to the head of the federal government’s ethics agency.

David Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, said in a letter sent late last week to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., that the White House counsel’s office told him that officials were probing the loans to the Kushner Cos. and whether “additional procedures are necessary to avoid violations in the future.”

Krishnamoorthi had asked Apol on March 1 about a New

York Times report in February that Kushner Cos. accepted $184 million in loans from Apollo Global Management and $325 million from Citigroup last year over a span of several months after Kushner met with officials from the two firms. As President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser, Kushner plays an influential role in domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Late Monday, Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said that “the White House counsel concluded there were no issues involving Jared.” Several White House officials contacted for comment were not immediately available to confirm whether White House lawyers had completed the inquiry.

Lowell denied any improprieties by Kushner, saying “he was not involved with his former company after he entered government service; the transactions in question came after that; he had nothing to do with those transactions; the transactions had nothing to do with any of his meetings in the White House.”

Both companies have insisted their officials did nothing wrong in meeting with Kushner.

In the letter to Krishnamoorthi, Apol responded to several of her questions about Kushner’s conduct during the period when his family’s real estate firm received the two loans. Apol said he raised those questions with White House officials “to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated.” During the conversations, “the White House informed me that they had already begun this process,” he said.

A spokesman for Kushner Cos. said Monday night that the firm had not received any correspondence or other notifications from the White House or ethics office.