Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Did Jared Kushner Turn On Qatar After Skyscraper Bailout Stalled?

As recently as this spring, the Kushner family was seeking a badly-needed investment from a Qatari businessman to refinance their tower at 666 Fifth Avenue. After negotiations seemed to break down, Kushner led the behind-the-scenes fight to harden the U.S. position on Qatar, according to The Intercept.

666 Fifth Avenue, often hailed as the defining asset in Jared Kushner’s empire, was purchased in 2007 for $1.8 billion. Kushner invested $500 million in the building, and took on debt to cover the rest of the acquisition. However, the value was greatly depleted following the 2008 financial crisis, and with a $1.2 billion interest-only mortgage due in February 2019, the family began to seek outside investors to help cover the cost. They turned to Qatar.

Though Jared Kushner left negotiations to join President Trump’s White House team, Charles Kushner continued negotiations as recently as this past spring.

In June, Kushner was reportedly key in pushing his father-in-law to support the Qatari blockade, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and joined by Egypt and Bahrain.

Contact Jesse Bernstein at [email protected] or on Twitter @__jbernstein

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.