On March 4, Charles Kushner went to prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign donations. Sometime after, date unknown, Jared Kushner goes to Howard Rubenstein for advice.
Rubenstein is a New York lawyer and publicist whose client list includes Jeffrey Epstein, Robert Maxwell, Adnan Khashoggi, and Rupert Murdoch, among many others.
Jared needs a way to rehabilitate his family’s image and secure the future he’d hoped for before his father’s criminal case. According to a friend of the family, Rubenstein knows just what to do.
First, buy a New York City newspaper. Any newspaper will do. Jared buys the New York Observer.
Second, buy a big Manhattan building. Any building will do. Jared buys 666 Fifth Avenue for more money than any building has ever cost in New York City.
Third, marry the daughter of a rich New York family. Any family will do. Jared meets and marries Ivanka Trump, the daughter of another Rubenstein client–Donald Trump.
Rubenstein and his son, Steven Rubenstein, continue to work for the Kushners until the second half of 2011.
Kushner Companies and Howard Rubenstein later deny this conversation ever happened.
Jared has not yet met Ivanka at the time of this Kushner-Rubenstein meeting. The photo for this post was taken in 2009.