Kushner’s conflicts of interest are pretty nuts:
On the night of Nov. 16, a group of executives gathered in a private dining room of the restaurant La Chine at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The table was laden with Chinese delicacies and $2,100 bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild. At one end sat Wu Xiaohui, the chairman of the Waldorf’s owner, Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese financial behemoth with estimated assets of $285 billion and an ownership structure shrouded in mystery. Close by sat Jared Kushner, a major New York real estate investor whose father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, had just been elected president of the United States.
So when the Chinese ambassador to the United States called the White House in early December to express what one official called China’s “deep displeasure” at Mr. Trump’s break with longstanding diplomatic tradition by speaking by phone with the president of Taiwan, the White House did not call the president-elect’s national security team. Instead, it relayed that information through Mr. Kushner, whose company was not only in the midst of discussions with Anbang but also has Chinese investors.
Anbang’s structure has stoked such suspicion about its true ownership that some Wall Street firms, including Morgan Stanley, have opted not to advise the company on United States mergers and acquisitions because they cannot get the information needed to satisfy their “know your client” guidelines.
Anbang’s deep ties to the Chinese state have also led to a break in presidential protocol. Presidents have long stayed at the Waldorf, but when Mr. Obama visited New York for the opening of a session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, he decided to seek other accommodations. American officials were vague about the reasons for the change at the time; a senior national security official cited security, counterintelligence and cybersurveillance concerns.
But Anbang was nothing if not savvy. Company officials had cultivated a relationship with Benjamin M. Lawsky, who had earlier led the financial services agency, from May 2011 to June 2015. It was Mr. Lawsky, by then a consultant, who introduced Anbang to Kushner Companies, according to people with knowledge of how the discussions came about. Mr. Lawsky declined to comment.
Mr. Kushner led the negotiations, his spokeswoman, Ms. Heller, confirmed. Kushner Companies would disclose little else about the joint venture, except to say that Anbang would become one of the equity partners in the building’s redevelopment if an agreement is finalized. Anbang declined to comment.
It was just coincidence that Mr. Kushner’s Nov. 16 dinner at the Waldorf with Mr. Wu took place the week after the election, Ms. Heller said, adding that it had been in the works for a while.
Ms. Heller stressed in her statement that the United States has “not found Anbang to be a state-owned enterprise” — an important technical point, given that the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits the acceptance of payments and gifts from foreign governments.
Should it consummate its deal with Anbang, she said, Kushner Companies will seek any necessary approvals from the federal government. She expressed confidence that any deal would pass muster with the foreign investment committee, citing the fact that it did not block the Chinese company from buying the Waldorf Astoria.
Come Jan. 20, when Mr. Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated, that committee will be made up of his cabinet members, and the process is such that the president has the final say.
