UPROAR

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s Luxury Albania Resorts Plan Under Fire

Two planned luxury resorts on the Albanian coast off the Mediterranean are under scrutiny.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s $1 billion plan to build luxury resorts in Albania is under scrutiny after a report published in The New York Times revealed corruption allegations from both rival property developers and locals. One of the proposed properties would be located on land near the small village of Zvernec, but one local family claims they have been farming at the site for generations. The Albanian government has been trying to return land confiscated by the country’s communist government during the Cold War back to the original families that owned it since 1991. The land selected by Kushner and Ivanka was claimed by the Konomi family, who say they have submitted evidence to the Albanian court system. Kushner’s firm told the The Times it was “confident they were rightful titleholders,” but said it would “withdraw” from the purchase if that wasn’t the case. The other property is located on the island of Sazan—a mostly uninhabited island in the Mediterranean formerly used by the Albanian and Soviet governments as a heavily fortified military base. However, Evi Kokalari-Angelakis, a rival developer, former Trump donor, and George Santos ally, told the paper she was passed over to develop on the island by the Albanian government, who are trying to curry favor with the Trump family should former President Donald Trump return to office. A spokesperson for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, a member of the country’s Socialist Party, denied those claims.