Jared Kushner, who is set to join Donald Trump’s administration as a senior adviser, will step down from all business and board positions he currently holds and sell off dozens of his personal assets.
After Kushner’s [TRDataCustom] nomination for the role of senior advisor was announced, his attorney, in a conference call with reporters Monday reported by Politico, said that the developer will divest from all his common stock in the family firm, Kushner Companies, and will also divest from 35 other investments by putting them up for sale at fair-market value. These include the company’s marquee asset, 666 Fifth Avenue.
Some assets, Jamie Gorelick of law firm WilmerHale said, will be sold to a trust administered by Kushner’s mother, Seryl Kushner, and Jared will not be a beneficiary. Joshua Kushner, Jared’s younger brother and founder of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, will buy some of the other assets not sold to the trust. Kushner will divest from his stake in Thrive.
According to Gorelick, in addition to resigning as CEO of Kushner Companies, Kushner will resign from managing positions in more than 40 entities controlled by the company. To avoid conflicts of interests related to any remaining assets, Kusher will “recuse himself” from participating in government affairs that could affect those interests.
Norm Eisen, ethics czar during President Obama’s first term, called Kushner’s plans a “positive step,” adding that he hopes Trump “takes a page from his book and does the same, as presidents have for the past four decades, by divesting into a blind trust or the equivalent.”
Trump said that he will address concerns about his own business on Jan. 11 at a press conference. [POLITICO] — Will Parker