White House investigating $500 million in loans to Kushner's family business
Source: MarketWatch/WSJ
WASHINGTON White House attorneys are examining whether two loans totaling more than $500 million to Jared Kushner's family business may have violated any criminal laws or federal ethics regulations, according to a letter from a federal ethics agency made public Monday.
The Office of Government Ethics told a Democratic lawmaker in the letter that the White House is probing whether a $184 million loan from the real-estate arm of Apollo Global Management APO, +1.16% nd a $325 million loan from Citigroup Inc. C, +2.77% may have run afoul of the rules and laws governing the conduct of federal employees.
Both loans went to the Kushner Cos., the private real-estate company founded by Kushner's father and run by members of his family. Kushner, who is President Donald Trumps son-in-law and serves in a senior position in the White House, met with top executives of both Citi and Apollo before each loan was disbursed, the New York Times reported last month.
I have discussed this matter with the White House Counsels Office in order to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining the facts necessary to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated, wrote David Apol, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics. During that discussion, the White House informed me that they had already begun this process.
Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/white-house-investigating-500-million-in-loans-to-kushners-family-business-2018-03-26?link=MW_latest_news
Wall Street Journal link (paywall) - https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-probes-loans-to-kushners-business-1522101516?modmktw
There were articles at the end of last month that first reported on these loans -
[div class"excerpt"]Kushners Family Business Received Loans After White House Meetings
By JESSE DRUCKER, KATE KELLY and BEN PROTESS FEB. 28, 2018
Early last year, a private equity billionaire started paying regular visits to the White House. Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. During that period, he met on multiple occasions with Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, said three people familiar with the meetings. Among other things, the two men discussed a possible White House job for Mr. Harris. The job never materialized, but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushners family real estate firm, Kushner Companies. The loan was to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.
Even by the standards of Apollo, one of the worlds largest private equity firms, the previously unreported transaction with the Kushners was a big deal: It was triple the size of the average property loan made by Apollos real estate lending arm, securities filings show. It was one of the largest loans Kushner Companies received last year. An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn.
That loan was made in the spring of 2017, shortly after Mr. Kushner met in the White House with Citigroups chief executive, Michael L. Corbat, according to people briefed on the meeting. The two men talked about financial and trade policy and did not discuss Mr. Kushners family business, one person said. There is little precedent for a top White House official meeting with executives of companies as they contemplate sizable loans to his business, say government ethics experts.
This is exactly why senior government officials, for as long back as I have any experience, dont maintain any active outside business interests, said Don Fox, the former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics during the Obama administration and, before that, a lawyer for the Air Force and Navy during Republican and Democratic administrations. The appearance of conflicts of interest is simply too great.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/business/jared-kushner-apollo-citigroup-loans.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
The White House is not responsible for law enforcement. Anyway Mueller's already on it, so now they're just duplicating efforts.
fumigation.
Last edited Mon Mar 26, 2018, 08:14 PM - Edit history (1)
- for his daughters affections......
Is investigating Jared? 
Oh the irony.
... predictable.
