Current Events > Jared Kushner tried to get a $500 million bailout from Qatar

(+) Yeah! (+)

The U.S. took a harsher stance towards Qatar shortly after he did not get it.
https://theintercept.com/2017/07/10/jared-kushner-tried-and-failed-to-get-a-half-billion-dollar-bailout-from-qatar/

NOT LONG BEFORE a major crisis ripped through the Middle East, pitting the United States and a bloc of Gulf countries against Qatar, Jared Kushner’s real estate company had unsuccessfully sought a critical half-billion dollar investment from one of the richest and most influential men in the tiny nation, according to three well-placed sources with knowledge of the near transaction.

Kushner is a senior adviser to President Trump, and also his son-in-law, and also the scion of a New York real estate empire that faces an extreme risk from an investment made by Kushner in the building at 666 Fifth Avenue where the family is now severely underwater.

Qatar is facing an ongoing blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and joined by Egypt and Bahrain, which President Trump has taken credit for sparking. Kushner, meanwhile, has reportedly played a key behind-the-scenes role in hardening the U.S. posture toward the embattled nation.

That hardline comes in the wake of the previously unreported half-billion dollar deal that was never consummated. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Jared Kushner and his father, Charles, negotiated directly with a major investor in Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, known as HBJ for short, in an effort to refinance the property on Fifth Avenue, the sources said.

Trump himself has unsuccessfully sought financing in recent years from the Qataris, but it is difficult to overstate just how important to Kushner the investment at 666 Fifth Avenue is for him, his company, and his family’s legacy in real estate. Without some outside intervention or unforeseen turnaround in the market, the investment could become an embarrassing half-billion dollar loss. It’s unclear precisely how much peril such a loss would put Jared, or his family’s, finances in, given the opacity of their private holdings.

HBJ, a former prime minister of Qatar who ran the country’s $250 billion sovereign wealth fund, is a billionaire and one of the world’s richest men. He owns a yacht worth $300 million called Al Mirqab, the same name he gave to the private investment firm that Kushner pitched. The former emir of Qatar summed up HBJ’s power with a quip: “I may run this country, but he owns it.”

HBJ ultimately agreed to invest at least $500 million through Al Mirqab, on the condition that the Kushner Companies could raise the rest of a multibillion refinancing elsewhere. The negotiations continued long after the election, carried out as recently as this spring by Charles Kushner. “HBJ basically told them, we’re good for 500, subject to a lot of things, but mainly subject to you being able to raise the rest,” said one source in the region with knowledge of the deal. The talks were confirmed by two additional sources with knowledge of the talks. One of those sources claimed that the potential deal was not contingent on the rest of the money being raised and that the HBJ investment was on hold as the overall structure of the financing was reconsidered. None of the sources would agree to talk on the record about a private financial transaction that has until now remained a secret.
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The revelation of the half-billion dollar deal raises thorny and unprecedented ethical questions. If the deal is not entirely dead, that means Jared Kushner is on the one hand pushing to use the power of American diplomacy to pummel a small nation while on the other his firm is hoping to extract an extraordinary amount of capital from there for a failing investment. If, however, the deal is entirely dead, the pummeling may be seen as intimidating to other investors on the end of a Kushner Companies pitch.

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Lemme get it out of the way now: Blah blah fake news, blah blah libruls, blah blah nothing-burger with cheese, fries and a small drink...blah blah.
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From what I can tell most Trump-supporters don't even like Kushner.
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The swamp just got 10 feet higher.
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Gheb posted...

From what I can tell most Trump-supporters don't even like Kushner.

Only because he's jewish and more technocratic than nationalistic.

_OujiDoza_ posted...

Lemme get it out of the way now: Blah blah fake news, blah blah libruls, blah blah nothing-burger with cheese, fries and a small drink...blah blah.

the drink is koolaid laced with cocaine
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Gheb posted...

From what I can tell most Trump-supporters don't even like Kushner.

That's fine, but the man they support has given him large amounts of power within the administration. You can't separate Trump from the people he personally hands power to, particularly given the way nepotism rules were skirted to make that decision.
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Darkman124 posted...

_OujiDoza_ posted...

Lemme get it out of the way now: Blah blah fake news, blah blah libruls, blah blah nothing-burger with cheese, fries and a small drink...blah blah.

the drink is koolaid laced with cocaine

lmao.
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You think that's shady.

Fraudulently overvaluing assets for the purposes of securing a loan.

So he wouldn't default and have to declare bankruptcy.

In exchange for favors from the President.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/national/kushner-firms-285-million-deutsche-bank-loan-came-just-before-election-day/2017/06/25/984f3acc-4f88-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html
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Tag
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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

I think people would do better at winning over the minds of Trump supporters if they'd point out these demonstrable instances of nepotism, self-dealing, and general corruption

My sense lately is that Trump "getting away with it" is not a problem to his supporters, but instead it is the point. The past two decades have been marked by elites getting off the hook for their crimes. In Trump, right-wingers now have someone they identify with getting away with things for a change.
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Antifar posted...

You can't separate Trump from the people he personally hands power to

And this is why impeaching Trump won't really fix anything, as good as that seems

The damage has been done
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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

I think people would do better at winning over the minds of Trump supporters if they'd point out these demonstrable instances of nepotism, self-dealing, and general corruption within the administration instead of mindlessly hurling out ham-fisted accusations of racism/fascism (depsite those accusations probably being true in some respects).

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-people-fly-from-facts/

pretty much no

the only thing that can really be done about trump voters is "show up to vote more often than they do"
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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

I think people would do better at winning over the minds of Trump supporters if they'd point out these demonstrable instances of nepotism, self-dealing, and general corruption within the administration instead of mindlessly hurling out ham-fisted accusations of racism/fascism (depsite those accusations probably being true in some respects).

fake news
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HylianFox posted...

And this is why impeaching Trump won't really fix anything, as good as that seems

I agree.
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Antifar posted...

Ex-Kefiroth posted...

I think people would do better at winning over the minds of Trump supporters if they'd point out these demonstrable instances of nepotism, self-dealing, and general corruption

My sense lately is that Trump "getting away with it" is not a problem to his supporters, but instead it is the point. The past two decades have been marked by elites getting off the hook for their crimes. In Trump, right-wingers now have someone they identify with getting away with things for a change.

He can literally do nothing to lose his base. Even stuff they don't agree with is chalked up to "4-D chess" and rationalized.
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Antifar posted...

HylianFox posted...

And this is why impeaching Trump won't really fix anything, as good as that seems

I agree.

The best we can hope for is that trump does so terribly that people will wake up and take a more active role in politics and not just leave everything to the douches in charge

The recent spate of protests are a step in the right direction but that's not nearly enough
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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

He can literally do nothing to lose his base. Even stuff they don't agree with is chalked up to "4-D chess" and rationalized.

It's crazy how far everyday people will bend over to make excuses for Trump and I'm all "what the fuck do you possibly have to gain from this guy being president?"
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