After Jared Kushner left the White House he launched an investment advisory firm Affinity Partners in 2021 and secured over $2 billion to manage from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, a few hundred million from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and some funds from Terry Gou, a founder of Taiwan-based electronics company Foxconn. In late 2024 Affinity Partners secured another $1.5 billion to from Abu Dhabi-based alternative asset manager Lunate Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
Kushner’s Affinity Partners now has approximately $4.6 billion under management, with almost all of the funds coming from Saudi, UAE and Qatari partners. Last year I reported on all of the known deals where Affinity Partners had invested over $1 billion, including an obscure deal with former WeWork founder Adam Neumann. While Kushner was building his investment business, he also launched the nonprofit Abraham Accords Peace Institute, where Cassidy Luna, the Chief of Staff for Affinity Partners is listed as the Treasurer and Director on the most recent tax filing.
Over the past few months Kushner has been a busy bee – definitely not benefitting from his former White House stint as Middle East peace plan czar (sarcasm intended). Kushner has not only done huge deals to manage billions in funds for Middle East leaders known for human rights violations and other atrocities, but he is also investing their money and partnering on a slew of controversial deals around the globe.
Below are highlights of several controversial deals and partners, with details on other deals here. The most controversial deal yet may be whether or not Jared Kushner will play a role in Trump’s vision for the U.S. to take ownership of Gaza, to displace all Palestinians and to build luxury resorts to create the “Riviera” of the Middle East.
Kushner’s Affinity Partners is pursuing several deals in the Balkans
Bloomberg reported last year that Affinity Partners was working on several billion-dollar deals in the Balkans.
One deal is to transform Albania’s Sazan Island into a luxury Aman branded eco-resort community. I found this news of interest because in 2022 I had reported that a subsidiary of Aman, run by Russian-born billionaire Vlad Doronin, was a significant tenant of Trump Tower, an item not covered by the mainstream media.
Kushner’s plans for the resort in Albania have stirred up local and international resentment over environmental issues and preferential treatment. A few days before Trump’s inauguration, the government of Albania gave preliminary approval to the plan to create a $1.4 billion luxury eco-resort on Sazan Island at the location of a former military base. The Albanian government will work with their American partners to clear the site of potential buried munitions. Ivanka Trump has said that she is helping with the project as well.
The New York Times reported on how these projects had benefited from some relationships built during Trump’s first term and discussions directly involved the president of Serbia and the prime minister of Albania.
Kushner and UAE billionaire Mohamed Alabbar are partnering together on a controversial deal in Belgrade
One of the most controversial projects Kushner is working on is a deal to renovate Serbia’s NATO-struck army headquarters and building a memorial complex “dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression.”
Last year Reuters reported that billionaire Mohamed Alabbar had been in talks with Kushner and Affinity Partners to develop the former Yugoslav army building in Belgrade into a residential complex and that Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vucic, was involved with the discussions. Early this year, just before Trump was inaugurated, plans were announced for Alabbar’s company Eagle Hills to partner with Kushner’s Affinity Partners to develop a Trump Tower hotel and apartment complex on the site of the former army building.
Alabbar and Kushner are forming a new company Atlantic Eagle Hills Partners to work on the project, which will enrich the Trump Organization through licensing fees.
The New York Times reported on the deal.
A Trump-branded luxury hotel is slated to rise on the site of the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense in Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO in 1999 and has been largely vacant since. It is an idea that Mr. Trump initially proposed in 2013… Kushner has formed a partnership with Mohamed Alabbar, the developer of the Burj Khalifa hotel in Dubai, the world’s tallest structure. They plan to build the new hotel on the Belgrade site with a lease on the property from the government of Serbia, which will share in the profits.
This deal will be one of the largest real estate projects between the Trump Organization and the Kushner family.
The NYT notes that this deal comes at a time when Serbia is looking for support from the United States for its bid to join the European Union.
Mohamed Alabbar may be selling assets in Belarus that were part of a 2021 deal that involved President Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin
While Mohamed Alabbar was collaborating with Jared Kushner last year he was also reportedly planning to sell some of his assets in Belarus, a country led by Alexander Lukashenko, that has been sanctioned for helping Russia and allowing troops to use land to launch attacks on Ukraine.
Lukashenko kicked off a development project in 2021 and gave a lead role to one of Mohamed Alabbar’s companies.
Mohamed Alabbar, the Emirati real estate developer behind Dubai’s signature skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, has initiated the sale of property assets he owns in Belarus, a country targeted by Western sanctions, according to two people familiar with the matter, even as he collaborates with Jared Kushner on the possible investment in Serbia. The Belarus project is now in the preliminary agreement stage to sell Alabbar’s interests in a multi-billion-dollar property development in Minsk, through his Symphony Global Holdings investment vehicle.
Kushner was reportedly involved in a deal with Alabbar’s Eagle Hills to build a ‘Mini Dubai’ in Budapest, Hungary until the plans were cancelled after public outcry
Vsquare reported that the Hungarian government had expected Jared Kushner to be involved in a controversial high profile project in Budapest led by Alabbar’s Eagle Hills.
Hungary’s government is anticipating Jared Kushner’s future involvement in a controversial €12.3 billion “mini-Dubai” real estate project in Budapest, led by Emirati billionaire Mohamed Alabbar. The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has long aligned himself with Donald Trump, announced the contract with Alabbar’s company on the day of Trump’s second inauguration.
The “Grand Budapest” project had generated criticism for its plans to construct possibly the tallest skyscraper in Europe, which would disrupt the historic skyline of Budapest and financially favor Alabbar’s Eagle Hills over public interests.
The far-right prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has a close relationship with Trump and met with Trump and Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago in December. Last summer when J.D. Vance was selected as Trump’s Vice President he was warmly endorsed by Viktor Orban. And J.D. Vance has repeatedly praised many of Orban’s right-wing nationalist views and policies, such as supporting financial incentives for married couples to stay together and have children, and government seizure of universities.
After the Vsquare story, Bloomberg reported that the mayor of Budapest would try to undo the deal in which Eagle Hills purchased 200 acres of land for $129 million. Mayor Gergely Karacsony said the land was worth several times more than the sales price and urged Orban to build affordable rentals on the land.
Recently the ‘Mini-Dubai’ deal was torpedoed as Hungary’s government accepted Budapest’s pre-emptive right to buy the land and to decide what is built there.
Mohamed Alabbar signed an MOU for an investment deal to develop projects in Georgia where the Prime Minister is aligning with Russia
Recently, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to discuss cooperation between the two countries. During the visit a memorandum of understanding was signed by Eagle Hills chairman Mohamed Alabbar and several officials from Georgia.
Prime Minister Kobakhidze, who was nominated by the Georgian Dream party in 2024, has vowed to end “liberal fascism” after massive protests in Georgia over the governing party’s decision to end negotiations on joining the European Union.
The ruling Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions.
There is no indication that Kushner or Affinity Partners are involved in this MOU. However, this is an example of another deal involving Kushner’s partner Alabbar with a politician and country mired in controversy.
Other controversial investments by Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners
Last year I reported on how Jared Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners was investing over one billion dollars of the Saudi, UAE, Qatari funds they are managing.
In one deal Affinity had bought a 4.95% stake for around $127 million U.S. dollars in Israeli company Phoenix Insurance Agencies and had an option to purchase another $127 million. This month Affinity purchased the second stake in Phoenix, increasing their holding to 9.9% and becoming the largest shareholder. A story in Jacobin reported how Phoenix has profited from and supported businesses operating in the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights on land seized from Palestinians.
Phoenix Financial, one of Israel’s largest financial and insurance firms, has financed and insured construction projects throughout Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights… Phoenix Financial, previously known as Phoenix Holdings, has helped finance wind and solar projects in Israeli settlements and provided financial services to the local councils of settlements, including the Beitar Illit and Oranit settlements in the West Bank.
Affinity Partners has also invested $110 million for a 15% stake in Israeli company Shlomo Group Auto and Credit Operations and is partnering with the firm that part owns Israels Shipyards, the only domestic builder of navy warships. The New York Times reported that this deal puts Kushner in business “with executives who are also major shareholders in an Israeli military contractor whose vessels have been used in the war in Gaza, armed with American-made weapons.”
Jared Kushner has been working on a deal for over 18 months to invest in a Mexican infrastructure company, but discussions were put on hold after Trump’s tariff threats. In 2023 Kushner hired Luis Videgaray, a former senior Mexican government official, to lead Affinity’s AI investments.
Will Jared Kushner and Affinity Partners lead the charge to fulfill Trump’s vision to turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East?
The most controversial deal yet may be whether or not Jared Kushner will be involved with the vision Trump announced last week for the U.S. to take ownership of Gaza and develop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East” and to remove Palestinians from Gaza to Jordan or Egypt.
In true Trump fashion, he said the U.S. “would view it as a real estate transaction where we’ll be an investor in that part of the world” and similar to Trump’s licensing deals – others would invest.
Middle East Eye noted that last year Jared Kushner described exactly this situation:
Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable… It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.
Last summer Joseph Pelzman, a professor at George Washington University, wrote a paper that was sent to Trump’s team and called for Palestinians to be displaced, to dig up the entire place – “Everything’s gotta go…nothing vertical stands” – and then international investors could build luxury resorts.
Jared Kushner has repeatedly denied having any conflicts of interest or using his relationship to Trump or his past experience in the White House for his own benefit.
While Kushner no longer has an official role in the White House, he reportedly is playing several roles behind-the-scenes, including advising real estate magnate Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and co-founder of Trump-sponsored crypto project World Liberty Financial, and Kushner speaks regularly to Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Last October Democratic lawmakers Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Ron Wyden called for the DOJ to appoint a special counsel to investigate Kushner for acting as an unregistered foreign agent. However Trump’s wrecking crew is moving too quickly and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the first AG who has worked as a lobbyist for foreign governments and who was registered as a foreign agent – is scaling back on Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) enforcement and shuttering the FBIs Foreign Influence Task Force.
It is becoming clear that while Elon Musk’s teeny-bopper DOGE team are leading the charge on the U.S. coup by taking over government computers and shutting down government agencies, that the ultimate goal of Trump and his administration is to remove, squeeze and take from the most impoverished people in the U.S. and worldwide, to enrich and reward powerful and wealthy cronies.
Meanwhile Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is perfectly situated with his investment advisory firm and billions of dollars under management from Middle Eastern partners to help develop new luxury resorts and other deals to the benefit of the world’s richest, and in many cases most ruthless, billionaires and oligarchs.