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Jared Kushner bought $125M Albanian beachfront from alleged trafficker, report says

newsAug 11, 202624188

In April an entity tied to Jared Kushner’s development wired roughly €110 million, about $125 million, to Miami businessman Artur Shehu for claims to beachfront land on the Zvernec peninsula near Vlora, Albania, a site of lagoons, flamingos, nesting sea turtles and a 700-year-old monastery that developers planned to convert into a mega-resort with a casino, golf and about 800 hotel rooms. Two months later Albania’s anti-mafia unit SPAK issued an arrest warrant for Shehu, naming him among 20 people accused of moving cocaine from South America into Europe and laundering proceeds through Albanian real estate; prosecutors say some property titles in Shehu’s portfolio were created with forged Ottoman-era documents. Prosecutors have frozen the purchase funds in a notary’s account while investigators probe whether the land was acquired with forged documents. Shehu denies the allegations and says his family has held the land since Ottoman times. Developers and partners say Albanian courts should resolve ownership, Reuters found no indication the buyers knew of suspicions when they closed, and project backers say the acquisitions were lawful and that U.S. partners invested in a personal capacity. Villagers in Zvernec told Kushner’s firm in writing in September 2024 that the land had been stolen, and local protests called the Flamingo Revolution plus angry farmers have since mobilized, while the frozen funds and criminal probe have thrown the resort project into legal and political uncertainty.

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