Kushner's Firm Deepens Ties to Those With Business in Washington

Eighteen months into Jared Kushner’s White House tenure, his family’s real estate firm is deepening its financial relationships with institutions and individuals that have a lot riding on decisions made by the federal government.

In the latest example, an arm of Brookfield Asset Management is close to completing an investment of up to $700 million in the Kushner family’s tower at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The deal will be a boon to the Kushners, who are struggling to recoup their investments in their flagship building.

At the same time, another Brookfield unit is awaiting the Trump administration’s approval of its acquisition of the nuclear-power company Westinghouse Electric. The deal is being reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, made up of senior federal officials who consider the potential national security risks of transactions involving foreign companies. Brookfield’s headquarters are in Canada.

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“Jared knows who is invested with the family business. He can’t unlearn that,” said Don Fox, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama and an official in both Republican and Democratic administrations. “There is absolutely potential for him to be influenced if he has to make a decision or provide advice to cabinet officials that could affect his investors. And that can’t be lost on the people that are investing with him.”

The family’s business, Kushner Companies, declined to comment. Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Mr. Kushner’s lawyer, said Mr. Kushner had followed the advice of ethics lawyers concerning the sale of certain assets and “is not in any position to comment on business decisions made by others at his former companies since he left.” Representatives of the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/business/jared-kushner-business-washington.html