New book alleges secret Gulf funds tied to Kushner

A new book claims Jared Kushner had access to at least $2 billion routed through two bank accounts proposed by Middle Eastern leaders during Donald Trump's first year in office. The allegation, if substantiated, would put a large pool of foreign-linked money within reach of the president's son-in-law while he worked as a White House adviser.

Matthew Cole's book, "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East," was released in the United States this week. An excerpt ran in Vanity Fair last Thursday.

Cole writes that Emirati leader Mohamed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put forward the plan in early 2017 to fund projects and foreign policy goals benefiting Trump. The book says at least $2 billion went into two accounts, called "Alpha" and "Beta". Alpha, held at First Abu Dhabi Bank, held roughly $750 million, according to the book. Beta held roughly $1 billion and was later moved to the Israeli Central Bank via Azerbaijan at Benjamin Netanyahu's suggestion. Cole also alleges Kushner partly managed the accounts from an iPhone that Russian and Dutch intelligence had hacked. The Dutch government declined to comment.

Kushner rejected the account. "We denied every one of these claims on the record, yet the author failed to provide a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of them," he wrote on X. He has asked Vanity Fair to retract the excerpt and has threatened legal action against publisher Simon & Schuster. He also noted that he gave more than 30 hours of testimony to congressional investigators and a special counsel inquiry, and said none of these allegations came up then.

His lawyers went further. Alejandro Brito, who has represented Trump in defamation cases, told Cole that "there are no accounts and never were" and that any claim tying Kushner to government-linked accounts is "totally false and defamatory." Chad Mizelle, a Trump administration lawyer who described himself as "Jared's attorney," wrote on X: "There are no bank accounts. They don't exist." The Guardian reached Kushner's counsel at Clare Locke and Mizelle and received no reply. Saudi and Emirati embassies also did not respond.

Cole's sourcing relies mostly on anonymous sources and does not reproduce emails or other documents, though footnotes point to confidential interviews. The book quotes one source as saying "Jared was looking for shortcuts in his diplomacy" and cites UAE intelligence official Ali Al Shamsi calling Kushner "the most expensive employee we've ever had." Cole alleges the Alpha account was drained by failed schemes before Kushner's access ended.

The book also examines Qatari money tied to 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the $2 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund investment in Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, made after Trump left office in 2021. Cole reports that Kushner declined repeated requests for an on-the-record interview, first put to him in May 2026. This week, Kushner is traveling with Steve Witkoff on Ukraine talks.

Kushner's father-in-law remains in office. Cole's claims concern the period when Kushner served in the White House, and the book states the accounts were first proposed in early 2017.