Kushner Team Challenges $2 Billion Foreign Cash Claim in New Book Excerpt

Jared Kushner’s legal team is contesting a new book excerpt that details a hacked iPhone and billions in unaccounted foreign cash. The claims, published Thursday in Vanity Fair, come from journalist Matthew Cole’s upcoming title, Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East. Kushner has labeled the entire account baseless.

The excerpt asserts that Kushner accessed more than $2 billion in slush funds from Middle Eastern leaders. The book argues this money was intended to buy influence within the U.S. government. It specifically names Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as placing roughly $1 billion into at least one account, a figure a source with knowledge of the money said was for Kushner’s personal benefit.

According to the text, Dutch intelligence agents discovered the hack in 2017. They reportedly gained this information after turning a Russian spy. The Dutch service then accessed the device and watched Kushner’s screen. The account says they saw him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions from a bank in Azerbaijan. The book claims the money was held at Israel’s Central Bank and used for off-the-books diplomatic objectives, including ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kushner rejected these details in a statement released Thursday night. He called the allegations completely insane and noted that his side denied every claim on the record. He pointed out that the author provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates to support the story.

His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory. The lawyer said the team plans to pursue legal action against those responsible, though the statement did not specify who would be included in that suit.

The White House also responded to the publication. Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications, wrote on X that the source book was complete fiction. He described it as a fabrication by a failed spy thriller writer and noted it offered no documentation, only mysterious words from unnamed sources.