Jared Kushner's family company pulls out of China investor events after mentioning White House in pitch
The real estate company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, White House advisor and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will no longer take part in Chinese investor events scheduled this month – after receiving backlash for mentioning White House ties in a previous business presentation.
Kushner Companies was scheduled to pitch real estate opportunities to investors in China’s southern cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou this weekend, and in the central city of Wuhan later in May, according to the New York Times.
Kushner Companies did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
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The Kushner family appeared to have caused a stir after an earlier investment conference in China, where Nicole Kushner Meyer mentioned her relationship to her brother during a presentation in which she was urging Chinese citizens to invest in a New Jersey project being managed by the family’s company.
“In 2008, my brother Jared Kushner joined the family company as CEO, and recently moved to Washington to join the administration,” she said at the conference.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Kushner Companies said it “apologises if that mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors. That was not Ms Meyer’s intention”.
The issue raised the question of whether the family was using its connections to the White House to attract business, potentially crossing ethical lines.
Kushner Companies is seeking $150m in financing for the New Jersey housing development through the government’s controversial EB-5 visa programme, which allows foreigners to win fast-track immigration in exchange for investing large sums of money in US projects.
Several politicians have criticised the programme, saying it is basically a way of selling US citizenship to the uber-wealthy. The programme was set to expire in April, but the massive federal spending bill Mr Trump signed last week extends it until 30 September.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is currently considering programme changes that could make it more difficult to attract foreign money to projects in relatively prosperous areas.
Republican senator Chuck Grassley urged Mr Kelly in a letter to quickly approve the proposed changes that “correct serious flaws in the EB-5 programme”.
A longtime critic of the visa programme, according to the Washington Post, Mr Grassley says that it should be used to help create jobs in rural and economically depressed communities.
In the letter, Mr Grassley asserted that Ms Meyer in her speech touted the EB-5 “golden visa” and alluded to Mr Kushner’s White House position “in a manner that some say was improperly suggestive”.
“As you know, EB-5 applicants ordinarily wait at least two years for a petition to be processed and for visas to become available,” Mr Grassley wrote. “Ms Meyer’s statements, however, could seem to imply that foreign nationals who invest with the Kushner Company will receive special treatment and expedited approval.”
He said that the department should clarify and affirm that no foreign investors will receive preferential treatment.
