Kushner Team Plans Lawsuit Over Book's $2 Billion Gulf Fund Claims

Jared Kushner has rejected new allegations that he managed billions in secret funds from Middle Eastern leaders. His legal team announced on Thursday night that they are preparing to sue the book's author, Matthew Cole, for defamation.

The claims appear in an upcoming book titled "Princes and Thieves." The text argues that Kushner had access to more than $2 billion in "slush money funds" from regional leaders. These funds were allegedly intended to purchase influence within the U.S. government.

A Vanity Fair excerpt published Thursday details how Dutch intelligence agents allegedly discovered a hack on Kushner's iPhone in 2017. The report states that Dutch spies gained access to the device after turning a Russian agent. They claim the spies could see Kushner's screen and captured every image he viewed.

According to the book, the agents watched Kushner log into a United Arab Emirates account. That account reportedly received hundreds of millions of dollars from an Azerbaijani bank. The text further asserts that Saudi Arabia and the UAE deposited at least $2 billion into accounts tied to Kushner. One of these accounts was held at the Bank of Israel.

The book describes the account owners as appearing to be official government bodies or charities. However, it claims the money was actually for "off-the-books diplomatic objectives." These goals included brokering a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The text cites a person with knowledge of the funds who said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion in at least one account for Kushner's personal benefit.

Kushner called the allegations "completely insane and never happened" in a statement. He noted that his team denied every claim on the record. He added that the author provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates to support the story.

Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, issued a separate statement on X. He described the book as "complete fiction" and called the author a "failed spy thriller writer." Cheung said the piece presented no evidence or documentation, relying only on "mysterious words from unnamed sources."