A US government official says the White House is investigating a $500 (£352m) loan to the family firm of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, asking if it broke ethics codes or criminal law.
The New York Times reported last month that Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies, accepted $184m (£130m) from Apollo Global Management and $325m (£230m) from Citigroup last year, after Kushner met officials from the two firms.
It also said Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy and held several meetings with Kushner.
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As Donald Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser, “Kushner plays an influential role in domestic and foreign policy decisions”, says The Guardian.
The acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, David Apol, said he had “discussed this matter with the White House Counsel’s Office in order to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining the facts necessary to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated”.
In a letter to the ethics agency, which is responsible for investigating potential conflicts of interest within Washington, Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said the loans “raise serious ethical questions that need to be investigated”.
He also asked whether Kushner’s actions “constitute a breach of his ethical obligations to the American people”.
Citigroup has denied there was any impropriety, saying last week the loan was “completely appropriate” and the transaction was already in the works in 2016, before Kushner met Citigroup’s CEO Michael Corbat in 2017.
According to a letter sent to members of Congress this month and seen by The Wall Street Journal, an attorney for Apollo also denied it provided the loan after its executive met Kushner.
Despite selling off most of his family business assets following Donald Trump’s election, Kushner “still maintains a stake in some company’s properties, including those that received the loans subject to a probe”, Fox News says.
