Kushner Rejects Book Claims of Hacked Phone and Foreign Money

Jared Kushner has publicly rejected claims that a hacked iPhone revealed billions of dollars in unexplained transfers from Middle Eastern governments. The allegations stem from an upcoming book by journalist Matthew Cole titled Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East. Kushner called the report baseless in a statement released Thursday night.

The book asserts that Kushner accessed more than $2 billion in funds described as slush money from regional leaders. The author claims these sums were intended to purchase influence within the U.S. government. An excerpt published Thursday in Vanity Fair covers Kushner's tenure as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration. In that role, he helped negotiate major foreign policy deals involving Israel, the Gulf states, China, and Russia.

According to the excerpt, Dutch intelligence agents learned in 2017 that Russia had compromised Kushner's iPhone. The Dutch reportedly discovered this after turning a Russian spy, which gave them access to the device. The account states that when Kushner used the phone, Dutch agents could see his screen and captured every image he viewed. The report alleges they watched him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from an Azerbaijani bank.

The book further claims that Saudi Arabia and the UAE placed at least $2 billion into several bank accounts tied to Kushner, including one held at Israel's Central Bank. The owners and managers of these accounts were often presented as official government bodies or charities. The report says the money was actually earmarked for off-the-books diplomatic objectives, such as brokering a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A person with knowledge of the money told the author that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion in at least one account for Kushner's personal benefit.

Kushner and his legal team denied every claim on the record. Kushner stated that the allegations were completely insane and never happened. He noted that the author provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates. His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory and said they plan to pursue legal action against those responsible.

The White House directed questions to Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications. Writing on X, Cheung called the book complete fiction. He said it was fabricated by a failed spy thriller writer and presented no evidence or documentation, only mysterious words from unnamed sources.