| 99% of the $6.16 billion his firm manages is tied to foreign nationals. |
| LEAD ESSAY / 4 MIN / 3 DOCUMENTS / STORY FILE KUSHNER-AFF |
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| What would your boss say if you negotiated for him while a foreign government paid your firm? |
| I think you know, because you'd be out of a job by lunch. Jared Kushner has spent this year doing something close to it, and he still has the title. President Trump named his son-in-law Special Envoy for Peace on February 19. The title made him a negotiator in the talks with Iran, and on Gaza and Ukraine. It's also a government post, which in plain English means federal ethics rules now reach him. |
| So what did he do with it? Earlier this year, while the Iran talks ran, he was raising another $5 billion in the Gulf. That money went to his private equity firm, Affinity Partners. A New Yorker profile reported that on September 14. And the New York Times had first reported the pitch on March 13. So two newsrooms have now put it on paper... |
| Hold on to one promise while you read the rest. In December 2024, Kushner said he'd pre-emptively try to avoid conflicts. Kushner also suggested his firm wouldn't raise money while his father-in-law held office. Both lines are quoted in a House Judiciary letter from April. Filings with the SEC list the firm as A Fin Management LLC, so the numbers are public even when the investors aren't. |
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Affinity Partners and the $5 billion raise |
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| Let me walk you through how a fund like his gets paid. Investors hand over cash, and the manager charges a yearly fee on it, usually a slice of the assets. So a bigger fund pays its manager more, whether its bets win or lose. Affinity grew about 30% in 2025, to more than $6 billion, according to the New Yorker. Using Saudi money, it put $110 million into Shlomo Group, an Israeli car-leasing company. Nearly $300 million more went into Phoenix Financial, an Israeli insurer. |
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| "They were investing money in him." |
| A FORMER SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL, VIA THE NEW REPUBLIC |
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| Those words came from a former official describing Gulf rulers who expected the envoy to prevent a war. He didn't. Vice President JD Vance led the summer round of talks instead, while Kushner and Steve Witkoff took a secondary role. But the commitments had already been made. And a fee written into a fund contract gets paid whether the diplomacy works or fails. |
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$157 million in foreign fees |
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| Congress asked about this months before the magazine ran a word. On March 19, Representative Robert Garcia and Senator Ron Wyden wrote to the White House chief of staff and counsel. Garcia is the top Democrat on House Oversight, and Wyden holds that seat on Senate Finance. Their letter adds up what Affinity collected from abroad, and it's worth reading slowly. |
| FILED / GARCIA AND WYDEN LETTER, MARCH 19 |
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| Foreign clients paid Affinity about $157 million in fees between 2021 and 2024, and $87 million of it came from the government of Saudi Arabia. Its authors estimate more than $60 million in foreign fees for 2025, including $39 million from Riyadh. They asked the White House whether Kushner had filed a public financial disclosure within 30 days of his appointment, and they wanted an answer by April 2. |
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| Now read that last request again. Senior officials have to file a public financial disclosure, the form that lists what they own and who pays them. Witkoff filed one after he became an envoy. For Kushner, I looked for a filed report this week and couldn't find one. Without it, you can't see which fees reached him personally, or from which government... |
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Jamie Raskin and the April 30 deadline |
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| Four weeks later, Jamie Raskin wrote to Kushner directly. Raskin is the top Democrat on House Judiciary. His April 16 letter addressed the envoy in both of his roles at once. You can read that Raskin letter yourself. It says Affinity raised another $1.2 billion over the past year, which brought its assets to roughly $6.16 billion. Some 99% of that, or $6.10 billion, is attributable to foreign nationals. |
| Every investor, every amount and every meeting was due by 5 p.m. on April 30. But he's in the minority, which means he can ask and can't compel. Between 2022 and 2024, Affinity refused a similar request, his letter says. So the list stays unanswered, as far as the public record shows. |
| So here's where you come in. Your taxes pay for the office he negotiates from. And the Iran war he was sent to end has pushed up what you pay at the pump. Gulf governments, meanwhile, pay Affinity fees and get the envoy's attention in the same year. Either way, the diplomacy is billed to you. And the one form that would show you who else is paying him is the one I can't find. |
