Kushner Rejects $2 Billion Foreign Funding Claims in New Book Excerpt

Jared Kushner rejected allegations Thursday that he controlled billions of dollars in foreign funds and used a compromised iPhone for diplomatic work. The claims appear in an upcoming book by journalist Matthew Cole, which Kushner described as baseless in a statement released Thursday night.

The book, titled "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East," asserts that Kushner had access to more than $2 billion in slush money. According to the text, these funds originated from Middle Eastern leaders and were intended to buy influence within the U.S. government. An excerpt published in Vanity Fair on Thursday covers Kushner's tenure as a senior White House adviser in the first Trump administration.

The excerpt details a specific account of espionage involving Dutch intelligence agents. The report states that Dutch spies learned in 2017 that Russia had hacked Kushner's iPhone. After turning a Russian spy, the Dutch agents reportedly gained access to the device. The account claims the agents could see the screen whenever Kushner used the phone, allowing them to capture every image he viewed.

According to the book, the Dutch spies watched Kushner log into a United Arab Emirates account. The excerpt alleges this account had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. It further claims that leaders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE deposited at least $2 billion into several bank accounts tied to Kushner, including one held at Israel's Central Bank. The report says the owners of these accounts were presented as official government bodies or charities, but the money was actually for off-the-books diplomatic objectives, such as brokering a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The text specifies that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion in at least one account. A person with knowledge of the money told the author that this allocation was for Kushner's personal benefit. Kushner and his legal team issued sharp denials in response to these specific claims.

"The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened," Kushner said. He stated that his side denied every claim on the record, noting that the author provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates. His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory and said they plan to pursue legal action against those responsible.

The White House directed reporters to a statement from Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications. Cheung called the Vanity Fair article's source book complete fiction and said it was fabricated by a failed spy thriller writer. He noted that the book presents no evidence or documentation, relying instead on mysterious words from unnamed sources.