Growing unease over Trump's son-in-law's holdings

Washington

AS CHIEF executive of his family's real estate empire, Jared Kushner planned two apartment projects across the street from each other in Jersey City.

Both would be luxury skyscrapers, complete with retail space and sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. A new crosswalk would connect them, intended to link the two Kushner Cos developments practically and visually.

But when Mr Kushner prepared an ethics plan ahead of joining the White House as a top adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, he drew a curious distinction between the two projects. He sold his stake in one, while keeping his share of up to US$5 million in the other.

Mr Kushner, 36, who is emerging as a singularly powerful figure in the Trump White House, is keeping nearly 90 per cent of his vast real estate holdings even after resigning from the family business and pledging a clear divide betwe…