Kushner Companies, the company owned by the family of senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner, reportedly has apologized for using his name during a real estate sales pitch to Chinese investors.
Nicole Meyer, Kushner’s sister, made the pitch on Saturday in Beijing to more than 100 Chinese investors. Meyer said the project “means a lot to me and my entire family” and specifically mentioned her brother, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump.
“In 2008, my brother Jared Kushner joined the family company as CEO, and recently moved to Washington to join the administration,” she said at the conference.
In a statement issued the following day, the Kushner Companies said that the company “apologizes if that mention of [Meyer’s] brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors.” Jared Kushner “has nothing to do with this project,” spokeswoman Risa Heller told the Daily Beast.
“Ms. Meyer wanted to make clear that her brother had stepped away from the company in January and has nothing to do with this project,” the company said in the statement, which was cited Monday by CNN.
Kushner, who is married to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, reportedly has played a key role in smoothing U.S.-China relations. Kushner served as a manager or president at six entities associated with the New Jersey real estate project until January, according to The New York Times, citing Kushner’s government ethics disclosure form.
According to the Times, during the Beijing meeting, Meyer talked about how family values had shaped Kushner Companies and spoke about her grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. She also spoke about her father, Charles Kushner, the company founder who spent time in prison for illegal campaign donations, tax evasion and witness tampering.
Meyer also spoke to investors in Shanghai on Sunday.