Jared Kushner’s sister appeared at a Beijing sales event at the weekend to pitch Chinese investors on a New Jersey real estate project, an event that touted the Kushner name and “government support” in its marketing materials.
Nicole Meyer addressed investors in a ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel as part of her company’s effort to raise $150m from wealthy Chinese hoping to obtain green cards through a US investment immigration scheme.
Marketing materials for the event touted the Kushner Companies project, located in Jersey City, New Jersey, as “Kushner 1”. In the US, it is known as One Journal Square. The advertisement also refers to “government support” for the project without elaborating.
Reporters from at least two US newspapers were ordered to leave the event, which was advertised to the public, according to media reports.
Mr Kushner, who is married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, resigned as chief executive of Kushner Companies to serve as a White House adviser. He played a central role in planning the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping to Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club.
The president’s son-in-law has divested himself of some holdings related to Kushner Companies properties and investments, according to ethics disclosures. His lawyer said he holds no interest in the Jersey City development.
“Mr Kushner divested his interests in the One Journal Square project by selling them to a family trust that he is not a beneficiary of, a mechanism suggested by the Office of Government Ethics,” said Blake Roberts, an attorney at WilmerHale who advises Mr Kushner on ethics matters.
Qwos, the Chinese immigration agency that organised the event, worked with Kushner Companies in 2013 on fundraising for another Jersey City project, 88 Kushner, also known as Trump Bay Street, according to the advertisement.
The EB-5 visa programme offers permanent US residency to foreigners who invest $500,000 each in a project that creates at least 10 US jobs. It has become a popular source of cheap funding for real estate developers. Chinese have shown willingness to lend at low interest rates because they are primarily seeking green cards rather than investment profit.
The EB-5 programme has faced criticism for allowing wealthy foreigners to essentially buy US permanent residency. An investment of $500,000 also allows the investor to obtain visas for their immediate family. Mr Roberts said Mr Kushner has recused himself from policy discussions related to EB-5.
The scheme was created in 1990 but was little used before 2014, when its popularity exploded. In 2016, Chinese immigrants accounted for more than three-quarters of the annual quota of 10,000 visas. A backlog in applications means that investors submitting applications today would probably have to wait five to seven years before obtaining a provisional green card.
After Mr Trump’s election but before he took office, Mr Kushner held talks with Anbang Insurance Group, the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate believed to have ties to Communist party leaders, over the sale of an office tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Reports of the potential deal sparked criticism from Democratic lawmakers. The sale was never completed.
Kushner Companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter: @gabewildau
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