Daniel Wolfram
New allegations about conflict of interest and fraud have been made against the Trump administration. This time it is his son-in-law who is his consultant in the Middle East.
While Jared Kushner has spent his time during the second Trump administration as the president’s personal “peace envoy,” his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, holds a large stake in an Israeli financial company with deep links to its military, according to CNN.
The company is called Tel Aviv-based Phoenix Financial and has invested hundreds of millions into Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms producer. It also holds stakes in eight other firms supplying drones and warships.
By acting as an unpaid envoy for the United States instead of taking a formal government job, Kushner avoids federal financial disclosure rules.
Millions in profit from arms dealing
Elbit Systems’ stocks all made significant gains last year as Israel’s wars against Palestine and Iran drove up demand for military equipment.
In July, Affinity Partners sold a quarter of its Phoenix stake for more than $340 million, earning five times its initial investment while still maintaining a 7% stake in Phoenix that is valued at over $1 billion.
Kushner has defended this apparent conflict of interest. Speaking on the “No Priors” podcast last September, he said, “When you get an Arab and an Israeli together and they start talking about a business opportunity, they forget about everything else and then they realize that there’s a lot of similarities.”
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Pushback and defense
Ethics watchdogs point out the conflict of interest by arguing that it is an oxymoron to exercise diplomatic power and try to broker a peace deal while profiting from arms suppliers.
“There are always people who profit from war or government policies. The difference is that the people profiting should not be the people making the decisions to make that policy. And that is what is happening here,” Cynthia Brown, chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told CNN.
Kushner’s personal attorney told CNN his client never directed Phoenix’s investments or sat on its board. However, Kushner told Forbes last September that he maintains “a very active dialogue” with the firm, meeting with leadership every few weeks.
