Ivanka, Kushner could profit from tax break pushed

At an Oval Office gathering earlier this year, President Donald Trump began touting his administration’s new “Opportunity Zone” program that offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American communities. He then turned to one of the plan’s strongest supporters.

“Ivanka, would you like to say something?” Trump asked his daughter. “You’ve been pushing this very hard.”

The Opportunity Zone program promoted by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner — both senior White House advisers — could also benefit them financially, an Associated Press investigation found.

Government watchdogs say the case underscores the ethical minefield they created two years ago when they became two of the closest advisers to the president without divesting from their extensive real estate investments.

Kushner holds a big stake in a real estate investment firm, Cadre, that recently announced it is launching a series of Opportunity Zone funds that seek to build major projects under the program from Miami to Los Angeles. Separately, the couple owns interests in at least 13 properties held by Kushner’s family firm that could qualify for the tax breaks because they are in Opportunity Zones in New Jersey, New York and Maryland.

Ivanka Trump’s advocacy for the Opportunity Zone program “creates a direct conflict of interest with her spouse’s investment in Cadre,” said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel for the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The couple’s financial disclosures show their jointly held financial empire is worth between $200 million and $800 million, with much of it in real estate, including a stake of between $25 million and $50 million in a holding company with an ownership stake in Cadre. Those documents require recusal from dealing with policy matters that touch on real estate and “would have a direct and predictable effect on Cadre.”

The Kushner Cos. did not respond to requests for comment.

Keith Srakocic / Associated Press An Associated Press investigation found President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in law stand to benefit from a program they pushed that offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American areas.