Kushner partner investigated in bribery sandal
It was the summer of 2012, and Jared Kushner was headed downtown.
His family’s real estate firm, the Kushner Cos., would spend about $190 million during the next few months on dozens of apartment buildings in tony Lower Manhattan neighborhoods including the East Village, the West Village and SoHo.
For much of the roughly $50 million in down payments, Kushner turned to an undisclosed overseas partner. Public records and shell companies shield the investor’s identity. But, it turns out, the money came from a member of Israel’s Steinmetz family, which built a fortune as one of the world’s leading diamond traders.
A Kushner Cos. spokeswoman and several Steinmetz representatives say Raz Steinmetz, 53, was behind the deals. His uncle, and the family’s most prominent figure, is the billionaire Beny Steinmetz, who is under scrutiny by law enforcement authorities in four countries.
In the United States, federal prosecutors are investigating whether representatives of his firm bribed government officials in Guinea to secure a multibillion-dollar mining concession. In Israel, Steinmetz was detained in December and questioned in a bribery and money laundering investigation. In Switzerland and Guinea, prosecutors have conducted similar inquiries.
The Steinmetz partnership with Kushner underscores the mystery behind his family’s multibillion-dollar business and its potential for conflicts with his role as perhaps the second-most powerful man in the White House, behind only his father-in-law, President Trump.
Although Kushner resigned in January from his chief executive role at Kushner Cos., he remains the beneficiary of trusts that own the sprawling real estate business. The firm has taken part in roughly $7 billion in acquisitions during the last decade, many of them backed by foreign partners whose identities he will not reveal.
Last month, his company said it had ended talks with Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese financial firm linked to leading members of the ruling Communist Party.
Dealings with the Steinmetz family could create complications for Kushner. The Justice Department, led by Trump appointees, oversees the investigation into Beny Steinmetz.
Even as Kushner’s company maintains extensive business ties to Israel, as a top White House adviser, he has been charged with leading U.S. efforts to broker peace in the Middle East. Jesse Drucker is a New York Times writer.