Of the $2.5 billion that the main fund of Jared Kushner’s firm managed as of late March, roughly 80 percent stems from one bulky investment from the Saudi crown prince, according to The New York Times. Within half a year of having left the White House, the newspaper reported Sunday, Kushner had secured a $2 billion investment from Mohammed bin Salman, despite the fact that his firm, Affinity Partners, has to date no publicly declared focus. MBS also reportedly gave Kushner the money over the express objections of his own fund’s advisers, who rang alarm bells last June over issues like “inexperience,” “unsatisfactory” operations, and the “public relations risks” of associating with the former president’s son-in-law. The prince, leading the board of his Public Investment Fund, overruled his screening panel, according to the Times. Around the same time, MBS underwrote a comparably puny investment of $1 billion in Steven Mnuchin’s new fund, despite the fact that the ex-Trump treasury secretary is a former Goldman Sachs partner. Mnuchin’s fund is also themed around Saudi-prioritized sectors like cybersecurity, financial technology, and entertainment, according to the Times—but all of that apparently pales in comparison to goodold-fashionedshilling, with Kushner infamously becoming MBS’ biggest defender inside the White House after multiple intelligence agencies concluded the prince had ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
