Saudi’s Own Analysts Graded Kushner’s Firm “Unsatisfactory in All Aspects.” MbS Wired $2 Billion Anyway.
The Public Investment Fund’s internal screening panel called Affinity Partners “unsatisfactory in all aspects” with “inexperienced management.” MbS signed the check anyway. Four years later: $112 million in fees collected, zero returns to investors, and a Trump-branded hotel in Serbia collapsed when four government officials were indicted for corruption.
Jared Kushner left the White House with no investment track record. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund wired him $2 billion six months later — over the explicit objections of its own analysts. He has since collected $112 million in fees. He has returned zero profits.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has a screening process.
In 2021, that process evaluated Jared Kushner’s newly-formed investment firm, Affinity Partners. The PIF’s internal analysts concluded that the fund had “inexperienced” management, was “unsatisfactory in all aspects,” and posed concentration risk. House Oversight documented this through the Maloney probe. It is in the committee record.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman overruled his own analysts. The $2 billion went in.
That $2 billion was transferred roughly six months after Kushner left his position as Senior Advisor to the President — a role in which he had helped shape U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia, including the American response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Affinity Partners has since collected more than $112 million in management fees from Saudi and other foreign investors. It has returned zero profits to those investors.
“Unsatisfactory in all aspects.” MbS signed the check anyway.
Affinity Partners was involved in the development of a Trump-branded hotel in Belgrade, Serbia. In December 2025, Affinity pulled out of the project. Four Serbian government officials had been indicted for corruption in connection with it. Bloomberg reported it. Popular.info confirmed it.
A Trump-Kushner real estate project in a foreign country ended when that country’s government officials were arrested. The FCPA — the law that would govern bribery of foreign officials — was paused by executive order in February 2025.
While Kushner’s Middle East probe remains open, the Trump Organization is simultaneously negotiating a $1 billion tower in Ho Chi Minh City and a $1.5 billion golf and resort complex in Hưng Yên Province. The Vietnamese deals were approved in May 2025, while Vietnam was in active tariff negotiations with the United States.
A foreign government that is negotiating trade terms with the United States approves $2.5 billion in Trump business deals in the middle of those negotiations. The FCPA would have made this a federal investigation. The FCPA was paused.
Senate Finance and House Oversight opened a new probe on March 19, 2026. Their letters are public record.
| 1. | PIF “unsatisfactory in all aspects” House Oversight Maloney probe; committee record |
| 2. | $2B investment, zero returns, $112M fees Sen. Wyden investigation 2024 (Senate Finance); CEPR analysis |
| 3. | Wyden/Garcia new probe Senate Finance, House Oversight letter (3/19/26) |
| 4. | Belgrade hotel collapse, 4 officials indicted Bloomberg, Popular.info, The Week |
| 5. | Vietnam towers ($1B + $1.5B) South China Morning Post, Reuters/Detroit News |
May the bridges we burn light our path forward.
Burn the Playbook
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BTP text brief
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund put $2 billion into Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners after he left the White House.
House Oversight said Saudi officials reportedly had concerns about Affinity's inexperience and concluded the firm's operations were unsatisfactory in all aspects. The concerns were overridden by the PIF board, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
That is the story. The warning was there. The money moved anyway.
Kushner was not just a private investor who happened to know rich people. He had been a senior White House adviser, worked directly on Middle East policy, and had a close relationship with Saudi leadership while the Trump administration handled U.S.-Saudi policy, the Khashoggi fallout, and the Gulf portfolio.
House Oversight said PIF's investment would generate $25 million in annual asset-management fees for Affinity, plus a share of profits. Senate Finance said in September 2024 that Affinity had pocketed as much as $157 million in fees from foreign clients, including $87 million from the Saudi government. The committee said Affinity had generated no return on investment as of July 2024 and had not distributed a penny of earnings back to clients.
So what exactly were the foreign governments buying? If the answer is investment performance, show the performance. If the answer is access, influence, and a relationship with the Trump family orbit, stop pretending this is just private equity.
In March 2026, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Robert Garcia demanded answers after reports that Kushner was soliciting billions from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds for Affinity while co-leading Trump administration negotiations in the Middle East. In April 2026, Rep. Jamie Raskin opened a separate investigation, warning that Kushner's dual role as a U.S. negotiator and a financier funded by Middle Eastern governments posed grave national-security risks and likely legal problems.
AP reported in December 2025 that Serbian prosecutors charged a government minister and three others in connection with a Kushner-linked real estate project in Belgrade. That does not prove every Kushner deal is corrupt. It proves the risk is not theoretical.
Bottom line: Saudi analysts reportedly warned that Kushner's firm was inexperienced and unsatisfactory in all aspects. MBS' fund put in $2 billion anyway. Then the fees piled up while returns did not.
Sources
House Oversight Democrats: probe of Saudi Government's $2 billion investment in Jared Kushner's firm
Senate Finance: Wyden investigation of Kushner firm
Senate Finance: Wyden/Garcia investigation of Kushner raising billions while negotiating U.S. foreign policy
House Judiciary Democrats: Raskin investigation into Kushner foreign entanglements
AP: Serbia prosecutors charge minister and others in Kushner-linked project
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