Robert Reich
"More corruption in plain sight. Jared Kushner recently sold his stake in Cadre, a commercial real estate company he cofounded with his brother, for upwards of $25 million, according to new ethics reports. Just a few years ago his same stake in the company was valued at $5 million. So what changed? Cadre has recently benefitted from a provision in Trump's tax law which grants tax breaks to real estate companies that invest in low-income neighborhoods.
Kushner himself personally helped lobby for provision, which is now being used by billionaires across the country to develop luxury properties at massive discounts. Once again, Trump and his enablers always rail against socialism, but they have no problem receiving tax breaks that line their own pockets. What do you think?"
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has sold his stake in a company investing in Opportunity Zone projects offering tax breaks he had personally lobbied for in Washington, sparking criticism that he was benefiting from his White House role.
A filing at the Office of Government Ethics released Monday shows that Kushner received permission to defer capital gains on the sale of his stake in Cadre, a digital platform for smaller investors to buy stakes in commercial properties. Kushner’s holding in the private Cadre is worth between $25 million and $50 million, according to a financial disclosure report he filed with federal ethics officials last year.
Kushner pushed for the Opportunity Zone tax breaks to be included in Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul. The breaks offer investors big cuts in capital gains taxes if they put money into businesses and buildings in 8,700 poor, struggling neighborhoods across the country that otherwise might not attract the money.
Cadre has said it plans to invest heavily in those neighborhoods, though it is unclear just how much it has done so. Kushner also has stakes in more than a dozen properties in Opportunity Zones owned by his family firm, Kushner Cos. It is not clear if the company has taken advantage of the breaks.
Kushner stepped down as CEO of Kushner Cos. and gave up management positions at Cadre when he joined the White House three years ago.
An ethics lawyer for Kushner did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cadre declined to comment.
Kushner co-founded Cadre with his brother, Joshua, and current CEO, Ryan Williams.
A Forbes magazine cover story last year said investors were shying away from the company given the links to Kushner and the Trump administration. It quoted CEO Williams saying, “I would be lying if I said the political angle wasn’t frustrating or concerning. There are people who won’t work with us, and we get that.”
Still, Kushner’s financial filings filed with federal ethics officials suggest the company isn’t doing so badly. The $25 million minimum value of Kushner’s stake at the end of last year is up sharply from three years ago when it was valued at at least $5 million.
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