The claims involve alleged intelligence surveillance, secret Middle Eastern accounts and roughly $2 billion that Kushner says never existed.
WASHINGTON, DC — Jared Kushner is forcefully denying allegations that foreign intelligence services gained access to his iPhone and uncovered secret financial arrangements involving billions of dollars from leaders in the Middle East while he served as a senior White House adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The allegations were published Oct. 22 in Vanity Fair in an excerpt from journalist Matthew Cole’s forthcoming book, “Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East.” Cole’s account alleges Dutch intelligence officers obtained access to information from Kushner’s compromised phone and later monitored activity that appeared to connect him to bank accounts funded by officials in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Kushner, his lawyer and the White House have rejected the account. CBS News said it had not independently verified the allegations.
Kushner said the accusations were “completely insane and never happened.” In a statement posted after the excerpt appeared, he said his representatives had denied the claims before publication and argued that the author had failed to produce bank statements, wire-transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates or other documentation that could independently establish the alleged financial activity. Kushner also said he had faced extensive scrutiny while working in the White House, including congressional and special counsel investigations, without the alleged accounts or transfers surfacing.
Cole’s account says the intelligence trail began with a Russian military intelligence operation targeting Kushner’s iPhone. According to the excerpt, Dutch intelligence later obtained access to a Russian server containing screenshots captured from the device. The book alleges Dutch hackers then identified a vulnerability that allowed them to monitor images of Kushner’s screen while he used the phone. The account says the surveillance did not provide full control of the device but allowed the intelligence service to observe activity displayed on its screen.
The excerpt alleges that Dutch officers saw Kushner log into an account at a bank in the United Arab Emirates that had received hundreds of millions of dollars through Azerbaijan. Cole describes the account as belonging to the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, a UAE government-funded organization, and says Kushner was allegedly made a signatory rather than an owner. The book further alleges that Saudi and Emirati leaders placed roughly $750 million into that account beginning in 2017 and that it was intended to finance foreign-policy objectives. Kushner’s lawyers deny he had any knowledge of or connection to the account or the foundation.
Cole also alleges that another roughly $1 billion was moved to Israel through Azerbaijan and placed in an account associated with Israel’s central bank. The excerpt cites an unnamed person with knowledge of the arrangement as saying the money was intended for Kushner’s benefit. It also describes additional alleged financial arrangements connected to regional diplomacy. The report does not provide publicly available bank statements or transaction records independently establishing those claims, and the allegations have not been proven in court or announced as findings by U.S. law enforcement.
David Friedman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first administration, also disputed allegations involving him. The Vanity Fair excerpt says Friedman denied knowing about any UAE money allegedly made available to Kushner and rejected claims that he passed messages connected to such an arrangement. Kushner’s counsel told Vanity Fair that the alleged accounts did not exist and denied that Kushner violated federal law while serving in government.
Kushner’s attorney, Chad Mizelle, has called the central claims false and defamatory. He said there were no such bank accounts and challenged publishers repeating the allegations to produce evidence supporting them. Kushner’s legal team has also raised the possibility of legal action over the reporting. President Trump separately rejected the story on Oct. 23, calling it false. White House communications director Steven Cheung likewise attacked the book’s claims and said they lacked documentary evidence.
The dispute is especially significant because the allegations concern the period when Kushner had a central role in the first Trump administration’s Middle East policy. As a senior adviser, he worked on U.S. relationships with Israel and Gulf countries and helped negotiate diplomatic agreements between Israel and Arab governments. Cole’s book argues that the alleged financial arrangements overlapped with that government work. Kushner’s lawyers say his dealings with foreign officials were authorized, conducted in the interests of the United States and complied with legal requirements.
The allegations remain sharply disputed. Vanity Fair published Cole’s account as an excerpt from his book, which is scheduled for publication by One Signal Publishers/Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. No publicly disclosed bank records or government investigative findings cited in subsequent reporting have independently confirmed the central allegations. Kushner continues to deny that the accounts, transfers and arrangements described in the excerpt existed, while his legal team is considering its response to the publication.
Author note: Last updated October 24, 2026.