The Kushner Companies’ presentation to potential investors in China has come under heavy criticism.
A former White House ethics adviser says that a sales pitch by Jared Kushner’s sister to potential Chinese investors that was centered on a controversial visa program came “very, very close to solicitation of a bribe.”
“This is corruption, pure and simple, ” said Richard Painter, who was an attorney for President George W. Bush and is now a University of Minnesota law professor.
The latest conflict-of-interest uproar to roil President Donald Trump’s administration arose this weekend as the Kushner Companies invited wealthy foreigners to sink cash into a New Jersey real estate project via the EB-5 program.
Addressing the crowds in Beijing and Shanghai at an event hosted by a Chinese immigration firm was Nicole Meyer, sister of Kushner, who is one of Trump’s most trusted confidants and his son-in-law.
She name-checked Kushner, according to reporters from the Washington Post and the New York Times who attended. Trump’s photo also was included in a slideshow that described him as a key decision-maker on the fate of the EB-5 program, but Kushner Companies said that was the work of the Chinese organizer.
The so-called “golden visa” program gives foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in U. S. development projects a faster track to pursue green cards for themselves and their families.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Kushner, who has divested from his family firm, had “nothing to do” with the investor recruitment, and Meyer said through a spokesperson that she was sorry if anyone misinterpreted her mention of her brother.
