Jared Kushner’s Deal-Making Career Off to Sluggish Start https://t.co/a2Ap5gaGC0
— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) August 18, 2023
… That Jared Kushner just might be, at the very least, underqualified to provide value for payments rendered.
From the first announcement of MBS’s ‘generous funding‘, Kushner’s ‘Affinity’ was blatantly a pay-off, with a small side bet that the grift could be continued after 2020. If Grift-Daddy’s ever-multiplying legal troubles have even Rupert Murdoch’s premier excuse-mongering outlet sliding towards admitting that it’s over, I for one can only applaud shoving Jared down the metaphorical stairs.
Jared Kushner set up last year at Tel Aviv’s Hilton Hotel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, aiming to spend some of the $3 billion that Gulf nations had pledged for him to invest…
Kushner left Tel Aviv last spring without writing any checks.
More than a year later, while collecting millions in management fees, Kushner says he is just now poised to invest in his first Israeli company.
Kushner admits that he has been slow to sign deals and sees that as savvy business sense…
“Deployment has been slower than expected because we maintained high standards,” Kushner said. “In retrospect, I’m glad we didn’t follow the herd.”…
Kushner and Mohammed developed an unusually close relationship while Trump was in the White House. In a memoir released last year, Kushner wrote that he repeatedly called the Saudi crown prince to secure help on key U.S. foreign policy issues, including oil prices. Kushner’s appeals created intense friction in the Trump administration, with then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accusing Trump’s son-in-law of undercutting his authority…
When pressed on the issue, some Republicans have criticized Kushner, who had little experience in the field when he started Affinity.
“I think that what Kushner did crossed the line of ethics,” Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) said earlier this month on CNN.
(Yes, that would be the same Rep. Comers currently engaged in chasing Hunter Biden’s dick pics laptop.)
Saudi Arabia invested $2 billion with Kushner, making it Affinity’s largest investor. The kingdom agreed to pay Kushner tens of millions in management fees each year—even if he didn’t invest the money, said some Saudi officials involved in the deal.
The arrangement isn’t uncommon in the industry, but some Saudi officials viewed it as inappropriate for someone of his experience level. Mohammed overruled those concerns, said the Saudis involved in the deal.
Critics say that Kushner’s ability to collect substantial fees while making few investments fuels concerns that the Saudi money was payback for helping the kingdom in the White House and an effort to secure access to the Trump family if Trump returns to the White House in 2025.
“It appears to be money for nothing,” said Norm Eisen, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. “In the absence of material transactions, this goes beyond a raised eyebrow to profound concerns about possible impropriety and quid pro quos.”…
“I’ve never seen anything like it”: Economic analyst stunned at sources of Jared Kushner’s funds. Just 1% of investments in Kushner’s fund came from sources in the United States
— Mike Walker (@New_Narrative) August 17, 2023
That tiny grey sliver he is pointing to is the amount of money Jared Kushner got from US investors. The rest is from foreign entities. pic.twitter.com/JTq12HB0Pq
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 14, 2023
TL; DR…
Economic analyst Steven Rattner on Monday shared a pie chart showing that all but 1% of the $3 billion in investments in former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners came from foreign sources after he “spent much of his White House tenure cozying up” to Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. The Saudis invested $2 billion in Kushner’s fund while the United Arab Emirates and Qatar each added another $200 million. About $625 million came from other non-U.S. sources while only $31 million came from sources inside the U.S. Rattner told MSNBC that he’s “never seen this” in 40 years in the business.
“I’ve never seen somebody get two-thirds of their money from a single investor. Usually a single investor might be a few percent of the fund, might be 5 percent, occasionally 10 percent,” he said. While Kushner has hired some people for his fund, “I’ve seen nothing else about what he’s actually done with the money,” Rattner continued.
“It is normal to invest this money over a period of several years, so I don’t think we can draw a firm conclusion yet. But, again, we’re going back to a guy who’s a real estate guy, and frankly, not a particularly good one at that, who’s suddenly got $3 billion trying to do private equity deals competing against people who’ve been in this business for a long time. And I wouldn’t, if I were the Saudis, count on making a lot of money from this any time soon,” he said, adding: “U.S. private equity firms still raise the vast bulk of their money from U.S. investors. This is extraordinary — unprecedented — I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Steven Rattner on the $2 billion Jared Kushner received from the Saudis:
“The board of it voted against giving the money to Jared and they were overruled by MBS…
I’ve been in this business for 40 years I’ve never seen someone gets $2 billion…two third of their money from a… pic.twitter.com/ACipADtyXp
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 14, 2023
Baud
And chicks for free!
hueyplong
The little MAGAt got his own jet airplane
The little MAGAt is a millionaire
bbleh
” ‘Why the f*** should I bother investing — whatever that is exactly — when I’m collecting the money for nothing,’ said Kushner to a reporter who was immediately threatened by Kushner’s lawyers with decades of career-destroying libel suits if he published the quote.”
” ‘And BTW, this “Israeli company” — they’re paying me a 20% “finder’s fee!” How rich is that,” he said.”
SpaceUnit
Why must the stairs be metaphorical?
Scout211
I wonder if this is a coincidence or related to a recent story in Vanity Fair that is quoting sources who are saying that Ivanka and Jared are getting involved in Trump’s campaign and especially in the fundraising. It’s irresponsible not to speculate!
. . .
Redshift
Personally, I would think naming your grifting company after “affinity fraud” is a little in the nose, but you do you, Jared.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Redshift: Affinity Fraud Guarantee! [may as well include Rudy’s pals]
eclare
I really hope this gets more attention. I also really want a pony.
Steve Rattner and his charts are the best thing about Morning Joe.
eclare
@Redshift:
Huh, I just googled, I had never heard that phrase. Thanks!
Scout211
If we’ve learned anything from the Trump four years of grift and crime, we’ve learned that “quid pro quo” is money for something.
Parfigliano
Ivanka on Donald’s list for conjugal visits? Irresponsible to speculate?
Suzanne
LAWL.
MattF
@Scout211:
Ah. ‘Beyond a raised eyebrow’.
ETA: Hey, I just thought of a phrase— ‘The Trump Crime Family’.
smith
There are still 35 boxes of documents that were recorded being removed from the MAL storage room and never returned. Whereabouts unknown.
Sure Lurkalot
And just yesterday, failson Ewick said without a glimpse of irony: “The only family in US history that didn’t enrich themselves when they went into government is the Trump family.”
hueyplong
When Trump is finally perceived to be in the rear view mirror for good, aren’t there some people who would consider Jared to be a loose end that needs tidying up? He’s running with a dangerous crowd.
MattF
@Sure Lurkalot: Hmm. Is it irony when you just flat-out lie?
waspuppet
@Redshift: Yeah well his father-in-law’s PlaySkool Twitter enterprise is named after the English word for Pravda. They’re not known for being a subtle bunch.
“Fuels concerns” is a funny way of saying “confirms.”
Parfigliano
@hueyplong: Literally hope so.
eclare
@hueyplong:
I thought that too. Once MBS decides that you aren’t useful anymore….
prostratedragon
@Redshift: Thank you.
kindness
Jared is the failson that doesn’t share Donald’s dna.
Yarrow
Jared Kushner and the Middle East? I posted this recently but Nikki Haley can never be forgiven for this crap.
Wonder how that peace plan is going? Is taking foreign money part of the “a lot of things behind the scenes” that she wishes more people knew about? His “hidden genius” seems to be getting money from the Saudis.
Bunch of grifter traitors, the lot of them.
bjacques
I’d always thought Jared actually *got* $2 (now 3) billion as the payoff. If he’s only managing that pile of cash, it could well evaporate if Trump loses for good in 2024. Or earlier since I suspect he’s out of his depth and not all that bright on his own and an Israeli swindler could make a serious dent in his fund.
Anne Laurie
Well, you can’t blame the other criminals for not sharing the loot with Fredo!
Princess
It’s blood money.
like a metaphor
Jared is a cross-dressing,
double-crossing,
bobble-headed
popcorn-fart.
(nothing wrong with being a cross-dresser, I just don’t like hypocrits)
Geminid
@bjacques: This doesn’t seem like such a great time to invest in an Israeli venture anyway. A number of Israeli investors have very publically scaled back operations in that country because of the Netanyahu government’s policies regarding the judiciary and other areas. Israel is a small country of 9.5 million people with some rough sledding in prospect, both economically and security wise. It’s tech and military-industrial sectors are strong, but they have investors much more sophisticated than Kushner.
Kushner may just be going through the motions here. It sounds like the Saudis still have strings on that money and they probably know more about Israeli entrepeneurs than does Kushner. Kushner’s very much an amateur outside of American real estate ventures, and he’s no ace in that area either.
TriassicSands
@Anne Laurie:
Well, Anne, it’s all a matter of timing. By the time Trump is finished paying off his legal bills his net worth may be considerably less than it was when he was sworn in as president.
Oh, wait, I almost forgot, Trump doesn’t pay his own legal bills. He leaves that to his brain dead cult members.
Trump’s motto: I do the crime; you do the time; I hire the shills; you pay the bills.
BruceFromOhio
How cute, they used the word ‘investments’ instead of ‘bribes.’
NotMax
Science spotlight.
Raoul Paste
I’m sure it’s quite a background story, but we will probably never learn it. Maybe the NSA knows.
Nobody who knows the origin of this money for nothing wants to be butchered by MBS
Anonymous At Work
Computer Question: Anyone know a good review site for computers? Looking at a new gaming laptop and need a trusted site to double-check review (ASUS ROG Strix 17).
Frankensteinbeck
This sentence makes me nauseous.
Another Scott
@Anonymous At Work: NotebookCheck.net does very, very through reviews of notebooks. They’re a great resource.
RTings.com also does good reviews, but I’ve mainly used them to compare TVs when I was shopping for one a year or two ago.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Anonymous At Work
Here’s one review.
Unique in ways both good and not-so-good.
Anonymous At Work
@NotMax: I’ve found initial reviews but the durability of the model is the concern. Costco has the non-SCAR models for under 1500, which is a steal if the thing lasts for longer than 2-3 years. But I’m seeing issues within 1-2 months.
Jackie
OT Our air quality index with all the wildfires surrounding us is at 289 which is categorized as “Very Unhealthy.” I so hope TS Hilary stays on course to bring us rain – very much needed in southeastern WA!
NotMax
@Anonymous At Work
Costco online only? If there’s a display model in-store, might want to try it out simply to get a feel for how comfortable, responsive and robust it seems to you.
Jay
@Jackie:
Here in Vancouver BC we are at AQHI 5, “moderate”. I can’t see Surrey from here and can barely make out Metrotown.
Everything is grey, except for the sun, which is orange.
This am, the air stunk of burned green fuel, like a trash fire, but it has either cleared off a bit with more particulates, or I have gotten more used to it.
Air purifier has been running non stop since yesterday.
Anonymous At Work
@NotMax: Costco online has better prices but limited selection. And the issue is long-term durability. Can’t tell if some reviewers fried their motherboards or if the laptop runs so hot it fries its own motherboard. BIG difference.
Doug R
Surprised Kush was able to show his face in Israel considering how much Israeli intel his father in law gave/sold to the Russians. I suspect some of that $2,000,000,000 is laundered Russian rubles for services rendered.
Kristine
@Anne Laurie: I replied on Threads that they’re so leveraged they barely broke even.
Jackie
@Jay: Ya, the orange sun has been present the past few days. We’ve been socked in as we can actually see ash particles drifting downward. Masks are recommended for any outdoor activities – but the health department recommends not to do outdoor activities that can be avoided/postponed. I hate letting the pup go outside, but that’s unavoidable. I watch him and as soon as I see him complete his business, I make him come inside.
catclub
@SpaceUnit: Some people are like a slinky. Not very useful, but it does put a smile on your face to watch them fall down a staircase.
catclub
Putin spends his corruption of the US democracy money much better than Saudi. And much less, too.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Anne Laurie: I recall the Chines snarking about bribing the Trumps was petty cash transaction by world standards.
sdhays
@Anne Laurie: Yeah, if they didn’t “enrich themselves” it’s because they’re so terrible at business that their expenses were still far more than the avalanche of illicit money flowing into their coffers.
Which…is plausible.
Mai Naem mobileI
@Redshift: i didn’t know there was an actual term for this. So he’s probably pulling a dime store store Bernie Madoff scheme with dime store size returns. Hope he ends up in prison like Bernie did and I hope he’s caught defrauding a bunch of daddy in law’s pals including the mideast authoritarians. I wouldn’t even care if he was in Saudi Arabia when MBS figures out Jared is a dumbass.and metes out some Saudi style justice. I really believe Jared was the root cause of the crappy response to COVID in the US. POS thought it was okay to kill off people in blue states for political benefit. Sociopathic garbage person who’s already built up 100 lifetimes of bad karma.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Anonymous At Work:
I have an older Strix (2019) that ran hot enough that I took it apart and did some cooling mods to improve it a bit. The Strix is their cheaper performance gaming laptop line so they can be a bit skimpy on cooling quality (IMO). Look for Asus models that have a dedicated GPU (rather than integrated) for a better cooling experience (IME). I’ve used their laptops for over 10 years now and the Strix, while still a nice laptop, feels a bit on the cheap side.
It’s a fine laptop but if you’re in to heavy gaming loads you can do better (again, IMO).
Roger Moore
@Scout211:
But according to the Supreme Court, unless you can show an explicit promise of what the money is paying for, you can’t call it bribery. Of course given the behavior of some of the Supreme Court justices, that seems like they’re just covering their own asses.
Ken_L
But “Hamas-funding Qatar” paid for Ilhan Omar* to attend the World Cup, so BOTH SIDES, dude!
*Along with five other House members including three Republicans, but the
New YorkHunter Biden Post put that in the fine print.Chris T.
@waspuppet:
Well, that’s just Marketing 101. You don’t name your cheap crap store “Cheap Crap”, you name it Fine Goods Emporium. If you actually have fine goods, you don’t name it Fine Goods either—the people who will look for what you actually have know to avoid places with such names!
You can use the obvious name in some cases, e.g., Discount Tire or whatever, but in general you name something after what it isn’t but pretends or aspires to be.
Barney
As a reminder of the Saudi regime’s morals:
Saudi border guards are accused of the mass killing of migrants along the Yemeni border in a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The report says hundreds of people, many of them Ethiopians who cross war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, have been shot dead.
Migrants have told the BBC they had limbs severed by gunfire and saw bodies left on the trails.
…
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, titled They Fired On Us Like Rain, contains graphic testimony from migrants who say they were shot at and sometimes targeted with explosive weapons by Saudi police and soldiers on Yemen’s rugged northern border with Saudi Arabia.
…
Reports of widespread killings perpetrated by Saudi security forces along the northern border first surfaced last October in a letter by UN experts to the government in Riyadh.
They highlighted “what appears to be a systematic pattern of large-scale, indiscriminate cross-border killings, using artillery shelling and small arms fired by Saudi security forces against migrants.”
Despite the horrific nature of the allegations, the letter went largely unreported.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-66545787