Jared Kushner’s business receiving ‘mysterious sources of funding’, lawyer claims

Former White House ethics chief Richard Painter said the investments were “very mysterious sources of funding”. Mr Painter told The Guardian: “If it’s foreign government money, sovereign wealth funds and it’s going to his business, then he’s in violation of the emoluments clause. If it’s private money, he’s not in violation of the emoluments clause but we have serious concerns when businesses owned by high ranking US officials are dependent on foreign national finances.

“We just have to know more, but there’s a complete lack of transparency here.”

Since 2017 Cadre, a real estate company, co-founded and still owned in part by Kushner, has received $90 million in investments from an unknown overseas source.

According to a report in The Guardian the funds to Cadre, in which Kushner retains a holding worth $25 million to $50 million, were funnelled through a Goldman Sachs-run vehicle in the Cayman Islands.

The emoluments clause, a provision of the US Constitution prohibiting government officials from receiving payments, gifts or other things of value from a foreign state or representatives applies to every person with a position in the government “so it definitely applies to Jared Kushner,” Painter said.

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Though it is unclear whether Kushner violated the emoluments clause with regards to the newly reported investments, Painter noted that a lot of Saudi money is sovereign wealth funds.

Mr Painter added: “I think there ought to be an investigation of both Trump and the Kushner business operations, where they’re getting their money.

“We have no idea but we need to know.”

He later tweeted: “Congress needs to open an impeachment inquiry, serve subpoenas,” in reference to Trump.

Even before news that the Mueller report did not exonerate Trump of obstructing justice, Trump critics called for his impeachment based on accusations that the president has been accepting foreign emoluments.

In April, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit brought by Democrats alleging that Trump had violated the emoluments clause could proceed.

Kushner co-founded Cadre with his brother Joshua Kushner and their friend and former Goldman Sachs employee Ryan Williams in 2014.

Cadre markets itself as a place for investors to buy property, but also has a real estate investment fund with a valuation that has grown fivefold since Kushner entered the West Wing.

source: express.co.uk