Charles Kushner said federal probes into the family business have not made it harder to find financing for their projects, and he has no concerns about the investigations.
“All I know is that we are not at all concerned, and we are cooperating,” Kushner told the Washington Post in his first interview since son Jared Kushner went to work at the White House. “And they can knock themselves out for the next 10 years reading those papers as far as I’m concerned.”
Kushner Companies has acknowledged that the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn subpoenaed information on projects seeking EB-5 funding, and that the company handed over documents related to a $285 million Deutsche Bank loan that Jared nailed down for the real estate company one month before Election Day.
Manager Magazin, a well-respected German business publication, recently reported that Deutsche officials identified “suspicious transactions” related to Kushner Companies and reported them to banking regulators. Deutsche put out a statement denying the report, and said it was taking legal action.
Kushner Companies sent a statement to The Real Deal saying the firm has done nothing wrong “with its relationship with Deutsche Bank.”
“The Office of Special Counsel has not contacted us. There is no money laundering. There is no Russian connection. There are no improper loans. There are no misrepresentations. Everything has been handled in a normal, professional and commercial manner,” the statement read. “Our transactions with Deutsche Bank were bid out on a competitive market rate basis. Any story claiming that we have done anything wrong in our dealings with Deutsche Bank is made-up and completely baseless. Importantly, not one news agency even called us before running these crazy allegations.”
Charlie said he’s confident that no charges will come from the U.S. probes, and indicated that special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has not contacted him. But he said the criticisms over whether Jared left behind a troubled company are something new to him.
“I try not to focus in my life on the haters but it’s just, I have never seen anything like this,” he said.
According to the Post, Kushner Companies claims on its website to have made $2.5 billion worth of transactions in 2017, a record for the firm. That’s despite the fact that the real estate company hasn’t taken EB-5 funds or money from sovereign wealth funds, the Post reported.
Kushner Companies did, in fact, seek EB-5 money last year for a project in Jersey City. And it sought capital from South Korea’s sovereign-wealth fund to help redevelop 666 Fifth Avenue. The firm also negotiated with former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani to recapitalize 666 Fifth, but the deal fell apart after Anbang Insurance Group elected not to redevelop the property with Kushner. [WaPo] – Rich Bockmann