{"id":61467,"date":"2018-03-27T05:14:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T05:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=61467"},"modified":"2018-03-27T05:14:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T05:14:33","slug":"white-house-probes-loans-to-kushners-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/white-house-probes-loans-to-kushners-business.html","title":{"rendered":"White House Probes Loans to Kushner’s Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

White House Probes Loans to Kushner’s Business<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

White House attorneys are examining whether two loans totaling more than $500 million to Jared Kushner\u2019s family business may have violated any criminal laws or federal ethics regulations, according to a letter from a federal ethics agency made public Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 LLC and a $325 million loan from Citigroup Inc. may have run afoul of the rules and laws governing the conduct of federal employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both loans went to the Kushner Cos., the private real-estate company founded by Mr. Kushner\u2019s father and run by members of his family. Mr. Kushner, who is President Donald Trump\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have discussed this matter with the White House Counsel\u2019s 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,\u201d wrote David Apol, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics. \u201cDuring that discussion, the White House informed me that they had already begun this process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Kushner Cos. said the company hasn\u2019t received an inquiry from the White House Counsel\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

An attorney for Mr. Kushner, Abbe Lowell, said that after the initial reporting on the loans, \u201cthe White House counsel concluded there was were no issues involving Jared.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Lowell added that Mr. Kushner \u201cwas not involved with his former company after he entered government service; the transactions in question came after that; he had nothing to do with those transactions; the transactions had nothing to do with any of his meetings in the White House, and the people from the companies involved have confirmed that as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The letter, dated March 22 and released Monday, was addressed to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who sits on the House Oversight Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Krishnamoorthi earlier this month asked the Office of Government Ethics for an advisory opinion about ethical questions he said were raised by Mr. Kushner meeting with executives while their institutions provided financial backing to his family company.<\/span><\/p>\n

The transactions \u201craise serious ethical questions that need to be investigated,\u201d Mr. Krishnamoorthi said in his letter to OGE, asking: \u201cDo the above actions by Mr. Kushner constitute a breach of his ethical obligations to the American people?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Citigroup said last week in a letter to lawmakers that the loan was \u201ccompletely appropriate,\u201d adding that Citi began exploring the loan in late 2016, before CEO Michael Corbat and Mr. Kushner met at the White House on March 3, 2017. On March 31, Kushner Cos. and two partner firms closed on a $325 million mortgage for a Brooklyn property with Citigroup, the bank said. \u201cNothing related to the [Brooklyn] loan or any other personal business with Mr. Kushner or the Kushner Cos. was discussed at that meeting,\u201d Citigroup said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Citigroup\u2019s letter, which came in response to a request for information from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and other lawmakers, said that \u201cthe Kushner family has been a client of Citi for decades.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Also last week, Kushner Cos. disclosed that it had recently received another loan from Citigroup, this one for $200 million for a Jersey City, N.J. property known as Trump Bay Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter to members of Congress this month reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, an attorney for Apollo denied that meetings between its executive Josh Harris and Mr. Kushner were related to any loans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJosh Harris and Jared Kushner never discussed any loans related to Kushner Companies,\u201d the letter said. The loan \u201cwas negotiated on behalf of ARI by an Apollo investment professional with a history of doing business with Kushner Companies that predated his tenure at Apollo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The firm said it was committed to \u201coperating with integrity\u201d and \u201cworks hard to earn the trust of investors and the broader community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The firm added that it had done one other project with Kushner Cos. in Brooklyn\u2014providing $75 million for a project also co-financed by Citi. The Brooklyn project is the same one that Citi provided $325 million for and that is now under scrutiny, according to an Apollo spokesman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMr. Kushner had been running the Kushner business before the election. After Mr. Trump won, Mr. Kushner resigned from the company and sold his personal stake in some projects and assets to family members and others, but he retains a stake in multiple Kushner Cos. properties, including those that received the Apollo and Citigroup loans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s examination of the loans to Kushner Cos. comes as the company is being investigated by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney\u2019s office and the Securities and Exchange Commission over its use of a federal investment-for-visa program known as EB-5. The company said recently that it has stopped using EB-5 financing for its projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

OGE, an independent agency, is charged with helping executive-branch officials avoid conflicts of interest. Its role is advisory and educational in nature, rather than enforcement. Investigations and prosecutions related to potential violations are handled by the Justice Department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/white-house-probes-loans-to-kushners-business-1522101516<\/span><\/p>\n

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