The family business · First term · № 31
Brookfield fund part-owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund leases Kushner tower at 666 Fifth Avenue
“QIA had absolutely no involvement in the 666 Fifth Ave. development and the claims about QIA’s investment strategy are not true” Qatar Investment Authority spokesman
- Date
- , Statement to Reuters, February 2019, as quoted by Bisnow; lease announced by Brookfield Asset Management
- Subject
- Qatar
- Benefit
- Real estate and licensing
- Government
- Qatar
- Beneficiary
- Kushner Companies (family of Jared Kushner)
- Amount
- about $1.1 billion
- Topic
- Ethics & conflicts
- Era
- First term
What happened
On August 3, 2018 Brookfield Asset Management said it had taken a 99-year lease on 666 Fifth Avenue, the Manhattan tower owned by the family of Jared Kushner, then a senior White House adviser. The New York Times reported that Brookfield paid about $1.1 billion in rent upfront, easing a $1.4 billion mortgage due in February 2019, and that Kushner Companies declined to comment. The lease was made through Brookfield Property Partners, in which the Qatar Investment Authority was the second-largest investor with $1.8 billion, according to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden. The Qatari fund told Reuters it had no involvement, and Brookfield said during the negotiations that "no Qatar-linked entity has any involvement in, investment in or even knowledge of this potential transaction," according to Wyden's letter. Wyden wrote in October 2022 that Brookfield had twice declined to give his committee information about the transaction. Trump had backed the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar in June 2017 and received Qatar's emir at the White House on April 10, 2018.
Sources
- Deal Gives Kushners Cash Infusion on 666 Fifth Avenue
- Wyden Continues Investigation Into Kushner Conflicts of Interest, Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
- Qatar Reportedly Disliked Having Even A Small Part In Bailing Out Jared Kushner
- Kushner Firm Got Hundreds of Millions From 2 Persian Gulf Nations
- White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump
- Qatar: Freedom in the World 2018 Country Report