{"id":852,"date":"2026-08-14T15:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:09:19","slug":"jared-kushner-finds-trouble-in-a-gangsters-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852","title":{"rendered":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In 2021, while on a Mediterranean yacht trip, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump thought they had found heaven on earth in an unlikely spot: Sazam, a rocky island off of Albania. <\/p>\n

Read more Forty Years Later, Our \u2018Long National Nightmare\u2019 Is Far From Over<\/a><\/p>\n

As Trump later recalled in a podcast interview. \u201cWe swam to the islands. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way, up to the top. And we were just captivated.\u201d Kusher, who had previously served as an adviser to his father-in-law, Donald Trump, during the president\u2019s first term, was in the midst of turning the political connections he had made in government into lucrative business deals. Albania, a struggling post-communist country with a government eager to win powerful friends in the West, seemed a promising location. Seizing the opportunity, Kushner initiated a deal to purchase Sazam, as well as marshland in nearby Zv\u00ebrnec that was home to scores of endangered birds, including flamingos. And Kushner\u2019s investment fund, Affinity Partners, working with the family of Qatari billionaire Moutaz Khayyat, started buying more land, with plans to build luxury hotels.<\/p>\n

The scheme stank to high heaven from the start. Although Donald Trump was out of power, he was already indicating that he would seek the presidency again in 2024, which meant that foreign billionaires and political leaders had every reason to curry Kushner\u2019s favor. (The president\u2019s son-in-law would in fact return as a senior foreign policy adviser and emissary in Trump\u2019s second term, making him an even worthier investment.)<\/p>\n

Further, land deals in Albania were inherently suspect because of the heavy influence of organized crime over the nation\u2019s government. Writing in The Nation<\/em> in June, Mitchell Prothero noted:<\/p>\n

\n

Over the past two decades, Albanian clans have taken over much of Europe\u2019s cocaine trade, which has immersed an otherwise poor country in illegal, hard-to-spend cash. And the government isn\u2019t about to spurn the economic benefits of this influx\u2026.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a recipe for corruption on a massive scale, as powerful business interests coordinate new development projects with the government, and the international mafia ecosystem. Kushner and his consortium of investors aren\u2019t direct players in this system\u2014but it\u2019s unthinkable that his local business backers and government officials friendly to the projects aren\u2019t involved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Prothero was right to suspect that Kushner\u2019s deal would inevitably be entangled in political corruption and mob ties. On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal<\/em> published a detailed report on one of the key players in the deal, Artur Shehu, described by the newspaper as \u201ca suspected gangster who fled to Miami after a gunfight at his bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, villagers in Zv\u00ebrnec wrote a letter to Kushner saying that land he was buying from Shehu in fact belonged to them.<\/p>\n

Read more The Fight for Special Education<\/a><\/p>\n

The villagers had a strong case. As the Journal<\/em> reports,<\/p>\n

\n

One chunk of land was secured by one of Shehu\u2019s lawyers in 2007 by presenting property officials a mistranslated Ottoman-era land record. While translating from Ottoman Turkish, an archivist substituted out the original owner and inserted Seit Shehu\u2019s name instead, a court found. The lawyer and the archivist were later convicted on falsified documents-related charges, though the lawyer\u2019s case is being retried.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shehu has been under repeated investigation by authorities in Albania and other European countries for decades. (He hasn\u2019t been convicted and denies wrongdoing.) In June, Shehu was arrested on RICO-style charges by the Albanian special prosecutors\u2019 office, which claimed he was a prominent member of a large drug gang.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly a coincidence that Kusher and his Qatari cronies were involved in buying land from an alleged gangster. As the Journal<\/em> notes, \u201cGains from cocaine filtered their way to Albania via cryptocurrency and cash smuggled on buses\u2014with the group ultimately laundering money through Albanian real estate.\u201d Albanian gangsters frequently operate by fusing cryptocurrency and real estate, with their corruption greased by access to political power. That is structurally very similar to Kushner\u2019s own putatively legitimate business enterprises. The Trump family also thrives on crypto, real estate, and proximity to political power.<\/p>\n

As The Guardian<\/em> reported on Thursday, Trump\u2019s second term has been a massive exercise in primitive accumulation by grift. In 2025, the president made $2.2 billion<\/p>\n

\n

by amassing big cryptocurrency holdings, benefiting from wealthy foreign interests, expanding his Truth Social business and more, while federal oversight of his actions has waned.<\/p>\n

Trump last year raked in at least $1.4bn from his crypto ventures according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June\u2026. Monetizing his presidency further this summer, Trump\u2019s Truth Social media business is pushing a new scheme that offers wealthy buyers special early access to his posts for a fee of $100,000 a month.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The sheer scale of the Trump family\u2019s graft is producing a heartening backlash. This is most visible in Albania, where there have been near-daily protests that have expanded into a wide-ranging attack on the country\u2019s crooked government. The spirit of resistance in Albania should inspire Americans. As my Nation<\/em> colleague Chris Lehmann has lamented, Donald Trump in his second term has been brazenly corrupt, swaggering with a sickening impunity in part because Democratic Party leaders are gun-shy about challenging him. Fortunately, some in the party, notably Senator Elizabeth Warren, have kept beating the drums on Trumpian corruption. If Democrats win back Congress in the midterms, they\u2019ll be in a strong position to investigate Trump family corruption, including the sleazy deals Kushner made in Albania.<\/p>\n

Read more The Gaping Hole in El-Sayed\u2019s Progressive Agenda<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nJared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"headline\":\"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852\"},\"wordCount\":943,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852\",\"name\":\"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":907},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=852#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Atlas Living Media\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media","og_description":"The Nation Magazine","og_url":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852","og_site_name":"Atlas Living Media","article_published_time":"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc"},"headline":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise","datePublished":"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852"},"wordCount":943,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852","url":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852","name":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise - Atlas Living Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-14T15:09:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e637fe71e74f8cddad3644f754d3c3c2.jpg","width":1440,"height":907},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=852#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jared Kushner Finds Trouble in a Gangster\u2019s Paradise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/","name":"Atlas Living Media","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com"],"url":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}