Who are Jared Kushner's parents? Charles and Seryl Kushner first disapproved of Ivanka Trump over her religion
Jared Kushner's parents Charles and Seryl Kushner have led quite a public life, thanks to being in-laws to Ivanka Trump and Jared's father becoming the focus of an FBI investigation that landed him in jail.
Although the Kushners managed to build quite a business empire in the United States, their beginnings were pretty humble. Jared’s grandparents worked hard to make their own fortune in the 1950s and eventually left a real estate portfolio to their son, Charles. Charles's parents were Holocaust survivors who emigrated from the country now known as Belarus to the United States in 1949. His Hebrew name, Chanan, was given to him to pay tribute to his mother’s brother who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
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Jared grew up in Orthodox Jewish community
The couple brought up their children in an Orthodox Jewish community in Livingston, New Jersey. Seryl was against her sons marrying outside their faith. As a result, Charles and Seryl initially refused to meet their eldest son's then-girlfriend, Ivanka Trump.
Although, it is not immediately clear if there were any other reasons influencing their decision. Jared also briefly split from Ivanka in 2008, as reported by author Vicky Ward in her book 'Kushner Inc'. Eventually, Ivanka converted to Judaism, as did supermodel Karlie Kloss, who married their other son Joshua.
Booming family business
Charles created Kushner Companies in 1985 and the family real estate development business. It originally employed his wife Seryl, Jared, and daughter Nicole. In 2007, the company made a record-breaking $1.8 billion investment in the Manhattan office building 666 Fifth Avenue.
By 2020, Kushner Companies had more than 20,000 flats and commanded around 13 million sq ft of office, retail and industrial space. Charles and Seryl’s daughter Dara isn’t involved in the company and Joshua has separate businesses. Joshua was, however, forced to take on some family assets to avoid a conflict of interest when Jared began working for his father-in-law's administration as a senior advisor in 2017.
Scandals involving Charles
Charles was convicted for making illegal donations in 2003 to then-New Jersey Governor James McGreevey’s campaign, tax evasion and witness tampering. In 2016, he was sentenced to two years in prison. He also reportedly hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and sent a video of it to his sister after getting angry about the pair cooperating with the FBI against him in his case.
However, the scandals involving Kushner Companies don’t end there. In 2018, the company landed a $210,000 fine from New York City regulators for filing false documents with construction permits. Then in March 2019, a New York councilman accused the company of putting building tenants in danger after it emerged their occupancy certificates had expired.
Although Charles had a history of making donations to the Democrat party, after his son joined the White House in 2017, he switched his allegiance to the Republicans by making donations to the Trump campaign. Days before Trump left the White House, he pardoned Charles for his crimes in 2020.