Washington: Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have held onto real estate and business investments valued in the hundreds of millions, while working government jobs, according to ethics filings released late Friday by the White House.
The documents show that the couple, who are both officially close advisers to the president, are still getting income from holdings valued at between $240 million and $740 million.
The disclosures came in a White House mass document release showing the wealth and financial assets of scores of senior staff members at the time they began government work.
Ivanka Trump — who just days prior announced she would officially enter a federal role as an unpaid adviser to the US president — will hang on to her stake in the Trump International Hotel, located blocks from the White House.
According to her husband’s disclosure that stake is worth between $5 million and $25 million. Between January 2016 and March 2017 she made between $1 million and $5 million in rent or royalties from the hotel, the documents showed.
Since winning the November election Donald Trump’s vast business empire has been scrutinized by ethics experts who say it poses major conflicts of interest.
Critics have voiced fear that interest groups or foreign governments might stay at the luxury Trump hotel in Washington to get in the administration’s good graces.
Kushner was recently tapped by his Republican father-in-law to lead a new White House office that aims to use business ideas to help streamline the government, according to the Washington Post.
The 36-year-old is a senior adviser to Trump with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy.
Kushner left high-level positions at more than 200 entities related to his family’s real estate business, according to the documents, but will continue to reap benefits from many holdings related to the business empire he ran with his father.
The broad White House document release also included the assets of Gary Cohn — the former president of Goldman Sachs who heads the White House National Economic Council — and Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist.
The Trump administration is considered one of the wealthiest in US history — Bloomberg estimates his cabinet and senior staff are worth some $12 billion.
AFP