SCRUTINY

Report: SEC Investigating Kushner Cos. Over Visa Program

The probe is reportedly being conducted in collaboration with federal prosecutors from the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the real estate company run by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family for its use of an investment-for-visa program, the Wall Street Journal reports. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report says the SEC subpoenaed Kushner Companies in May 2017, the same time federal prosecutors in New York began scrutinizing the company’s development projects financed partly through the EB-5 visa program. The program offers green cards to immigrants who invest $500,000 or more in certain U.S. businesses. The investigations are thought to have been prompted partly by a marketing campaign in Beijing and Shanghai in which Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, urged Chinese investors to put their money into a Kushner Cos.’ New Jersey real-estate project in return for visas. The SEC investigation, which hasn’t been previously reported, is being conducted in collaboration with the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, according to the report. No further details have been released on the nature of the investigation.