Dutch intelligence tracked the iPhone of the US president's son-in-law. He had access to secret accounts

According to an excerpt from an unpublished book by investigative journalist Matthew Cole published by Vanity Fair magazine, in 2018–2019 the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) conducted an operation in which Jared Kushner's iPhone was monitored. Investigators allegedly observed how he logged into bank accounts linked to the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, which received huge sums of money.

The operation was said to have begun in late 2017, when Dutch intelligence recruited a Russian military intelligence (GRU) hacker. By gaining access to the GRU server in Rostov-on-Don, the Dutch obtained screenshots from Kushner's phone and then had the opportunity to observe the activity on his iPhone X. In this way, they gained insight into suspicious transactions and confirmed that Kushner had access to two bank accounts linked to the UAE and Israel, although he was not formally listed as their owner.

Mysterious accounts and transfers worth billions

According to the author of the book, the leader of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed, and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, allegedly transferred at least $2 billion to accounts linked to Kushner. Initially, even the creation of a fund worth over $10 billion was considered to support the foreign policy of the Trump administration.

The first account, referred to as "Alpha", was to be kept at First Abu Dhabi Bank, where the chairman of the supervisory board is bin Salman's brother, Sheikh Tahnun bin Zayed. Since 2017, approximately $750 million has been transferred to this account through a bank in Azerbaijan. The owner of the account was the Watani Al Emarat charitable foundation, financed by the UAE government and used - according to anonymous sources - as a cover for secret operations of the Emirati services. Kushner was supposed to have the authority to dispose of the funds, although he was not formally the owner of the account.

The second account, called "Beta", was to be opened at the Bank of Israel. According to Cole, about $1 billion was transferred to this account by spring 2018, also via Azerbaijan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly required Kushner to report on each transaction, and the information was to be provided by then-US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. Part of the funds was then to be transferred to accounts in Cyprus.

The author of the book also describes the third account - a fund from which the UAE was to cover the costs of possible Israeli assistance in the event of an Iranian attack.

Doubts, denials and possible legal consequences

According to Cole, four senior officials in the first Trump administration, including two national security advisers, the White House chief of staff and a former CIA director, had no knowledge of any presidential approval of Kushner's access to foreign bank accounts. One of the former prosecutors from Robert Mueller's investigation (former FBI director - ed.) estimated that if Kushner promised anything in exchange for money, he could have violated corruption regulations and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Kushner's lawyers vehemently denied that he had any knowledge of the Watani Foundation or the UAE accounts, emphasizing that such accounts never existed and Kushner complied with all regulations. David Friedman, former US ambassador to Israel, described the allegations against him as "100 percent false."

After the publication of a fragment of the book, Kushner and his lawyer Chad Mizelle firmly rejected all allegations, emphasizing the lack of any evidence to support the author's claims. “The above events never occurred,” Kushner wrote on the X platform.

Matthew Cole, the author of the book, is an experienced investigative journalist who previously dealt with the issue of secret services.