WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- A Vanity Fair investigation published on Friday reveals that Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior White House adviser, gained access to about $2 billion from the governments of the UAE and Saudi Arabia during Trump’s first administration in exchange for advancing their political interests in Washington.
The report, drawing on journalist Matthew Cole’s forthcoming book “Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East,” says Dutch intelligence hacked Kushner’s iPhone with the help of a Russian intelligence operative who defected after travelling to the UK on an espionage mission. 
By monitoring the phone, Dutch intelligence observed Kushner accessing a UAE bank account that received hundreds of millions of dollars from an account linked to the government of Azerbaijan, which the report describes as known for money laundering.
A $750 million deposit reportedly originated from UAE leader Muhammad bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. Kushner used the funds to make transfers to various individuals, including “a warlord, a mercenary, and a one-time hit man,” according to the report.
The account was held at First Abu Dhabi Bank, chaired by MbZ’s brother, Tahnoon bin Zayed. Though Kushner had access, he did not own it; it was registered to a charity, the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, run by Dherar Belhoul al-Falasi. 
Vanity Fair said the charity served as “a cover to move money in support of the country’s secret military and intelligence operations overseas.”
A source familiar with the UAE’s deal with Kushner told the magazine: “Jared promised MbZ that he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund. He wanted normalization with Israel so that business could take off.”
MbZ reportedly placed an additional $1 billion in a separate account for Kushner at the Israeli Central Bank, with allocation “for Kushner’s personal benefit,” according to a source. 
Moving the money required approval from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with messages passed through then U.S. ambassador to Israeli occupied territories David Friedman. 
Kushner reportedly moved much of the $1 billion to accounts in Cyprus. A third account was established to hold UAE payments to Israel for its defense in the event of a major Iranian attack.
Because Kushner was a government employee, federal regulations and the IRS required him to disclose his access to the accounts. 
Vanity Fair concluded that by giving him access to roughly $2 billion, “MbZ and MbS were paying for his influence within the U.S. government.”