When filling out his government disclosure forms, Jared Kushner omitted a few things, including his stake in a real estate tech company and at least $1 billion in loans.
The president’s son-in-law and senior advisor didn’t disclose his stake in Cadre, a tech startup he co-founded with his brother and Ryan Williams in 2014, or loans totaling at least $1 billion from 20 different lenders to properties and companies co-owned by Kushner, the Wall Street Journal reported. As a stakeholder in Cadre, Kushner is business partners with Goldman Sachs Group, Peter Thiel and George Soros (whose investment was first reported by The Real Deal in January).
His interest in Cadre is the kind of investment that would usually need to be disclosed. But his failure to publicly report the debt doesn’t necessarily violate disclosure rules, experts told the Journal. Still, there’s some concern that undisclosed business ties could present potential conflicts.
“Anything that presents a potential for the conflict of interest should be disclosed so that the public and the press can monitor this,” Trevor Potter, a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said.
An attorney for Kushner noted that a revised version of his disclosure forms includes his stake in Cadre. According to the papers filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Kushner holding company JCK Cadre LLC, owns 25 to 50 percent of Quadro Partners, Inc., which owns at least 75 percent of RealCadre LLC, which operates Cadre. Kushner has reduced his ownership stake to less than 25 percent, Kushner’s attorney Jamie Gorelick told the Journal.
In January, the White House announced that Kushner’s assets would be divested in a trust administered by family members. [WSJ] — Kathryn Brenzel