Charles Kushner

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Template:Cite news
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In 2005, Kushner was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, which he served in the Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery. As a convicted felon, he was also disbarred in three states. He later received a pardon issued by his son's father-in-law, President Donald Trump, on December 23, 2020.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="auto1">Template:Cite news</ref> Kushner has donated significant amounts to Trump's campaigns. Previously, he was a major Democratic party donor.<ref name=nytimes2023/><ref name=bi/> In 2025, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as United States ambassador to France during his second administration. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 19, 2025, by a vote of 51–45.

His elder son Jared is the husband of Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the president of the United States Donald Trump, during whose first presidential administration he served as senior advisor from 2017 to 2021. He has three other children, including his younger son Joshua, a venture capitalist who is married to the supermodel Karlie Kloss.

Early lifeEdit

Charles Kushner was born on May 16, 1954,<ref name="TRD Bio"/> to Joseph Berkowitz and Rae Kushner, Jewish Holocaust survivors born in eastern Poland who came to America from the USSR in 1949.<ref name="nymag2009">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At birth, he was named Chanan, after a maternal uncle who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.<ref name="Here's How Much Jared Kushner And His Family Are Really Worth">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with his elder brother Murray Kushner<ref name="TRD Bio"/><ref name=Cityfile/> and sister Esther Schulder.<ref name="Major Donor Admits Hiring Prostitute to Smear Witness">Template:Cite news Template:Cbignore Template:Void</ref><ref name="Ivanka and Jared's Power Play">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="The Legacy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp His father worked as a construction worker, builder, and real estate investor.<ref name="TRD Bio"/> Kushner graduated from the Hofstra University School of Law in 1979.<ref>"Academic Chairs and Distinguished Professorships", section: "The Joseph Kushner Distinguished Professorship in Civil Liberties Law". 2016–2017 Undergraduate Bulletin, Hofstra University. Retrieved October 28, 2016.</ref>

CareerEdit

Kushner CompaniesEdit

In 1985, Kushner began managing his father's portfolio of 4,000 New Jersey apartments.<ref name="TRD Bio"/><ref name=Cityfile>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He founded Kushner Companies – headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey – and became its chairman.<ref name="TRD Bio">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=Cityfile/> In 1999, he won the Ernst & Young New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year award. At the time, Kushner Companies had grown to more than 10,000 residential apartments, a homebuilding business, commercial and industrial properties, and a community bank.<ref name=Ernst>"1999 New Jersey Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year(R) Award Recipients Announced". Ernst & Young press release, June 17, 1999. Retrieved September 28, 2011.</ref>

Criminal conviction and pardonEdit

On June 30, 2004, Kushner was fined $508,900 by the Federal Election Commission for contributing to Democratic political campaigns in the names of his partnerships when he lacked authorization to do so.<ref name="NY Times">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2005, following an investigation by United States attorney for the District of New Jersey Chris Christie negotiated a plea agreement with him, under which Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.<ref name=NYTimes3.5.05>Smothers, Ronald (March 5, 2005). "Democratic Donor Receives Two-Year Prison Sentence". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2011.</ref><ref name="ApologyNYT">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYT2007">Sullivan, John (August 22, 2004). "Like an 'Abandoned Planet'". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2020.</ref> The witness tampering charge arose from Kushner's retaliation against William Schulder, his sister Esther's husband, who was cooperating with federal investigators against Kushner.<ref name="time">Template:Cite news</ref> Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranging to record a sexual encounter between the two and send the tape to his sister.<ref name=NYTimes3.5.05/> He was sentenced to two years in prison and served 14 months at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery, in Alabama before being sent to a halfway house in Newark, New Jersey, to complete his sentence.<ref name=NYTimes3.5.05/><ref name="Sommer">Sommer, Allison Kaplan (March 1, 2016). "Meet the Kushners: The Feuding Real Estate Dynasty That Links Donald Trump and Chris Christie". Haaretz. Retrieved November 19, 2016.</ref><ref name="Widdicombe">Lizzie Widdicombe, [Ivanka and Jared's Power Play: How the patrician couple came to have an outsized influence on a populist Presidential campaign], The New Yorker (August 22, 2016).</ref><ref>New York Magazine: "The Legacy – his son Jared, the 28-year-old Observer owner, has to carry the ambition for the both of them" By Gabriel Sherman July 12, 2009</ref> He was released from prison on August 25, 2006.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As a convicted felon, Charles Kushner was also disbarred and prohibited from practicing law in New Jersey,<ref>In re Kushner, 870 A.2d 248, 183 N.J. 130 (2005).</ref> New York,<ref>In the Matter of Kushner, 18 A.D.3d 953, 793 N.Y.S.2d 781 (2005) (per curiam).</ref> and Pennsylvania.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Republican Chris Christie, who chaired Trump’s first transition team, said Kushner committed "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he prosecuted.<ref name=cnn19>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:2020-12-23 Trump padron for Charles Kushner-kushner charles pardon warrant 12.23.2020.pdf

December 2020 pardon granted by Donald Trump

On December 23, 2020, President Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon to Kushner, his daughter's father-in-law,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> citing his record of "reform" and "charity".<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/>

New York City real estateEdit

After being released from prison, Kushner shifted his business activities from New Jersey to New York City. In early 2007, Kushner Companies bought the 666 Fifth Avenue building in Manhattan for $1.8 billion.<ref name=Big>Bagli, Charles V. (December 7, 2006). "A Big Deal, Even in Manhattan: A Tower Goes for $1.8 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved November 12, 2007.</ref> In August 2018, Brookfield Properties signed a 99-year lease for the property, paying $1.286 billion and effectively taking full ownership of the building.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As of the end of 2016, Kushner and his family were estimated to have a net worth of $1.8 billion.<ref name="Here's How Much Jared Kushner And His Family Are Really Worth" /> He has employed two fellow inmates with whom he became acquainted in prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

DonationsEdit

Kushner met personally with Harvard University's president and in 1998 donated $2.5 million to Harvard.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His son, Jared, was then beginning his senior year of high school, where he was not a particularly good student with test scores below Ivy League standards.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> Jared was admitted to the Harvard freshman class of 1999.<ref name=":2" />

Before 2016, Kushner was a donor to the Democratic Party.<ref name="NYT2007" /> He is on the boards of Touro College, Stern College for Women, Rabbinical College of America, and the United Jewish Communities.<ref name="JewishWeek20040723" /> Kushner has made other donations to Harvard, Stern College, and United Cerebral Palsy.<ref name="JewishWeek20040723" /> He donated to the Seryl and Charles Kushner Maternity Unit at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. He contributed to the funding of two schools, Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, also in Livingston, and named them after his parents.<ref name="TRD Bio" /><ref name="JewishWeek20040723">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="JewishPartisans">"Mini Bio: Rae Kushner", Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. Retrieved September 28, 2011.</ref> Kushner Hall is a building that is named after him on the Hofstra University campus.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The campus of Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center is named the "Seryl and Charles Kushner Campus" in honor of their donation of $20 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2015, Kushner donated $100,000 to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again PAC, a super PAC supporting Trump's 2016 campaign for the presidency.<ref>Katy O'Donnell, Trump attended big-donor fundraiser last month, Politico (August 23, 2015).</ref> Kushner and his wife also hosted a reception for Trump at their Jersey Shore seaside mansion in Long Branch.<ref>Maggie Haberman, Donald Trump Pays a Visit to His Not-So-Poor Relations, The New York Times (August 23, 2016).</ref> In 2023, he was one of the largest donors to a Trump super PAC, donating $1 million.<ref name=nytimes2023>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=bi>Template:Cite news</ref>

Nomination as U.S. ambassador to FranceEdit

On November 30, 2024, president-elect Trump announced through a social media post that he would nominate Kushner to be the United States ambassador to France in his second term.<ref name="nyt-nom">Template:Cite news</ref> On February 12, 2025, his nomination was sent to the Senate.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> His nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 51-45. Cory Booker was the lone Democratic senator to support his confirmation.

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Kushner Companies in the FBI's FOIA Library The Vault

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Template:US ambassadors to France Template:USEUambassadors