Investment pitch focuses on Kushner’s new position

BEIJING — Jared Kushner has said he has stepped away from the day-to-day business of his family’s real estate company while he serves as a senior adviser to his father-inlaw, President Donald Trump.

But Kushner’s relatives are working feverishly to solicit overseas money for projects in the United States, and they are highlighting their ties to Kushner as they court investors.

On Saturday afternoon, Kushner’s sister Nicole Meyer made a pitch to attract $150 million in financing for a Jersey City, New Jersey, housing development, known as One Journal Square, to more than 100 Chinese investors gathered at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Beijing.

The money would be provided through a muchcriticized government program known as EB-5 that awards foreign investors a path to citizenship in exchange for investments of at least $500,000 in U.S. development projects.

Speaking in a ballroom, Meyer said the project “means a lot to me and my entire family.” She mentioned her brother’s service as chief executive of Kushner Cos., the family business from which he resigned in January, saying he had left to serve in the Trump administration.

The project was advertised to Chinese investors as the latest offering from the “star Kushner real estate family.”

Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Kushner Cos., declined to comment.

Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, has become a central voice on China, serving as a conduit between Beijing and Washington.

As a businessman, he courted Chinese firms, most notably Anbang Insurance Group, the financial firm linked to members of the country’s ruling Communist Party. In March, Kushner Cos. said it had ended talks with Anbang for an investment in its headquarters at 666 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. The potential deal raised eyebrows because of its favorable terms for the Kushners, who are seeking help with the troubled property.