A financial firm that operates billions of dollars in real estate properties around the world is facing new questions from the powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee about whether Qatar was secretly involved in the $1.2bn (£1bn) rescue of a Fifth Avenue property owned by Jared Kushner’s family while Kushner was serving in the White House.
Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who leads the finance committee, has given the chief executive of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management until 24 October to answer a series of detailed questions about a 2018 deal in which Brookfield paid Kushner Companies for a 99-year lease on the family’s marquee 666 Fifth Avenue property.
When the deal was announced in August 2018, it was seen as the end of a drawn-out saga surrounding the property. The rescue, it was said in media reports, generated enough money for the Kushner family to pay $1.1bn (£970m) of debt on the building and buy out a partner.
In a statement on Thursday, Wyden accused Brookfield of stonewalling his committee and refusing to answer questions about the transaction, including whether Brookfield “intentionally misled” the public when it said that “no Qatar-linked entity” had been involved in the deal. In fact, it has since been alleged by Wyden that Brookfield used a Qatari-backed fund – called Brookfield Property Partners – to fund the transaction. At the time of the deal, Wyden said, the Qatari Investment Authority was the fund’s second largest investor.
“I remain deeply concerned that funding from a foreign government was involved in the rescue of a Kushner-owned property while Jared Kushner was employed as a senior White House official closely involved in the formulation of US policy towards the Middle East,” Wyden said. “This is a serious issue, as federal criminal conflict of interest statutes for White House officials extend not only to matters affecting their own financial interests, but that of their direct relatives and spouses.”
Wyden also noted that Kushner was involved at the time in matters involving a diplomatic blockade against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. He pointed to recent testimony by the former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who said Kushner frequently engaged with foreign officials in a manner that was inconsistent with the views of other US government officials. In the case of Qatar, Tillerson said, Kushner expressed support for the blockade despite opposition from the Departments of State and Defense.
Kushner’s investment fund, Affinity Partners, has recently secured a $2bn (£1.7bn) investment from Saudi Arabia, which Wyden said raised additional questions about his communications with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and whether Kushner changed his stance on the Qatar blockade only after his family secured funding for the deal.
A spokesperson for Brookfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kushner could not immediately be reached for comment.
In his letter, Wyden asked for a wide range of documents and correspondence in connection with the transaction.
