Summary
- Vanity Fair published an excerpt from Matthew Cole's forthcoming book on October 22.
- Kushner publicly rejected the account; his lawyer also denied the alleged arrangements in the excerpt itself.
- Forbes and Ynet covered the dispute, but their accounts do not independently corroborate the alleged bank activity.
A publication and a forceful denial
Jared Kushner publicly rejected allegations about foreign financial arrangements on Thursday after Vanity Fair published a book excerpt by investigative journalist Matthew Cole. Forbes reported that President Donald Trump's son-in-law denounced the magazine on social media and said the allegations had never happened. The immediate, confirmed development is the publication of the claims and Kushner's response, not an official determination that the described transactions occurred. [2]
The October 22 excerpt comes from Cole's forthcoming book, Princes and Thieves. It presents allegations concerning bank accounts and diplomatic dealings during Trump's first administration. The magazine also includes on-record denials from Kushner's counsel, who said his client complied with legal requirements and rejected the claimed account connections. Those responses were included in the original account, rather than emerging only after the article's publication. The disputed events described in the excerpt are historical allegations, not newly announced transactions or newly disclosed court findings. [1]
What is alleged, and what is disputed
As summarized by Ynet, Cole alleges that financial arrangements across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel made large sums available outside conventional U.S. government oversight. One strand concerns an alleged UAE account to which Kushner supposedly had signatory access. The distinction is between alleged authority to access an account and ownership of the money; neither has been established by the coverage cited here. [3]
Ynet reported that Kushner's lawyer denied that he knew the people or charity connected to that account and denied access to a UAE bank account. Another allegation concerns money allegedly routed to Israel. Former U.S. ambassador David Friedman, whom Cole describes as an intermediary, denied any knowledge of the supposed arrangement or involvement in passing messages. These denials directly contest central parts of the account. [3]
The limits of the available reporting
Forbes described Cole's claim that Dutch investigators obtained visibility into Kushner's phone through material associated with a Russian hacker. It attributed that account to Vanity Fair. The publication of the allegation is verifiable; the intelligence operation it describes is not independently verified by Forbes' article. Repeating that distinction matters when a story involves purportedly secret surveillance and financial activity. [2]
Ynet attributes the financial and intelligence allegations to Cole's book, rather than separately verifying the transactions. Its account notes unresolved questions about whether the accounts existed as described, who controlled funds and how money may have been used. The cited coverage therefore documents a dispute, not proof of criminal conduct. No conclusion about legal liability follows from publication or from the fact that other outlets covered it. [3]
Reporting sources
- Vanity Fair · The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner's Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations—Including More Than $700 Million in Transfers ↗2026-10-22
- Forbes · Jared Kushner Blasts Vanity Fair Over Report On Secret Foreign Financial Agreements ↗2026-10-22
- Ynet · Netanyahu urged Kushner to place $1 billion in secret UAE funds at Israeli bank, book claims ↗2026-10-23
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