Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Did Jared Kushner Have Real Estate Links To Shady Israeli Billionaire?

Jared Kushner and his family business has now been linked to real estate transactions with an Israeli billionaire under investigation in four countries for bribery and corrupt practices.

According to The New York Times, Kushner partnered in 2012 with Raz Steinmetz, whose family got rich in the diamond business, to purchase $190 million worth of New York rental properties. Raz Steinmetz put up $50 million of funding in down-payments.

But the ties have raised questions because of Raz Steinmetz’s uncle, Beny Steinmetz, who is facing criminal probes in Israel, the United States, Switzerland and Guinea.

The charges stem from Beny Steinmetz’s investments in Guinea, where it is alleged that he bribed the wife of a former dictator in order to obtain rights to an iron ore mine.

While Raz Steinmetz claims that he has no business ties to Beny Steinmetz, The Times reported that the two shared personnel and the same financial instruments, including Swiss bank accounts.

Responding to the story, Kushner representatives told The Times there was no reason to be concerned.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.