All language subtitles for S02E03_Slumlord Millionaire.English (CC)

[rain pattering]

[man] Uh, so, this is my apartment. Um...

Please, come on in.

This is where it was leaking
completely for many months,

uh, and this is maybe the fourth,
fifth time they've put paint on top of it.

[woman 1] The bathroom,

the entire ceiling just totally collapsed.

All the plaster came down,
the wood was gone.

Here are a couple of bricks in the toilet.

[woman 2]
While they did construction,

I developed respiratory issues
from the dust.

My nose
actually still has not recovered fully.

[woman 3]
We get a fee for everything.

[man] Literally just, like, last week,
we just paid out another $400,

just-- in just random fees.

[woman] I was served this summons.
I was very confused.

I had no idea

who JK2 Westminster was
and why they were suing me.

But I know what the "JK"
in JK2 Westminster stands for now.

[interviewer]
What does JK stand for?

Jared Kushner.

-[cameras clicking]
-[photographers chattering]

["Lie, Cheat, Steal"
by Run the Jewels plays]

♪ Lie, cheat, steal, kill, win ♪

♪ Everybody doing it ♪

♪ Lie, cheat, steal, kill, win ♪

♪ Everybody doing it ♪

♪ Lie, cheat, steal, kill, win ♪

[reporter] Jared Kushner is now
the world's most powerful son-in-law.

[Kushner's voice] I was taught if there's
a wall, figure out a way to go above it,

figure out a way to go around it,
go through it.

Both sides of the aisle
say that he is the steady hand.

We try to live in the highway
of the extra mile

where we say if there's a way
to get it done, we're going to find it.

Jared is such a hidden genius
that no one understands.

[Kushner] When people ask me what I do,
I could say I do media,

I do real estate, I do technology,

but what I actually do all day
is I solve problems.

[reporter 2] Kushner has been tasked
with criminal justice reform,

tackling the opioid crisis,
Middle East diplomacy,

and cyber-security.

[Kushner's voice] The president trusts me.
Every task he's given me,

I've been able to do it quietly,
do it effectively.

I've been able to deliver results.

[reporter 3] A Harvard grad,
publisher of The New York Observer,

and so rich, he once tried to buy
the Los Angeles Dodgers.

[Kushner's voice]
We will be doing things that will impact

a lot of people's lives and help
their families and their communities.

Wonderful. Thank you very much.

[man] New York City is
a one trillion dollar real estate market,

and when there's a lot of money
to be made,

if there's not an enforcement system
that is providing the right oversight,

there's going to be a lot of fraud.

We started Housing Rights Initiative
three years ago.

Some of the tenants that we work with

will invite me over for lunch, for dinner,

families who are being defrauded,

families who are being screwed over.

And there are definitely points
where I feel like

I don't just adopt one or two families,
but dozens of families

across the city.

We've done dozens of investigations

which, so far,
has led to 55 class action lawsuits

against some of the biggest landlords
in the city,

three of which
were against Kushner Companies.

It is abundantly clear
that Kushner Companies

made the lives of its tenants
a living hell.

[reporter] The non-profit group
Housing Rights Initiative,

along with City Council member
Ritchie Torres,

say Jared Kushner's real estate company

filed more than 80
false work permit applications,

which is against the law.

[Carr] My relationship
with Council member Torres

effectively started
when he became the chair

of the
Oversight and Investigation Committee

in the City Council.

What we call the "Kushner Loophole,"

the practice
of falsifying building permits

with impunity

because of ineffective enforcement
on the part of the city,

has become a systemic problem
in our city.

[Torres] When I met Aaron Carr,
I immediately came to realize

that he was the most effective
housing organizer I've ever met.

A powerful case could be made
that Aaron has been more effective

at holding
the real estate industry accountable

than the Buildings Department,
which has well over a thousand employees.

[Carr] Kushner companies owns
over 40 buildings in New York City,

and to know that they should be
at the top of your target list,

all you need to do is Google them.

Around the clock construction,
rodent infestation,

potential asbestos exposure,

black mold, collapsed buildings.

This isn't a typical company.

This is a tier-one predator.

[man] Kushner Companies started
as a family business in New Jersey,

and Charles Kushner is the patriarch
of Kushner Companies.

He built it
from a small family building company

into a big
regional real estate holding company.

Charlie's parents
were survivors of the Holocaust

and with a group
of other Holocaust Survivors,

started businesses in construction.

They became known as
the Holocaust Builders.

[man 2] Jared Kushner grew up
in extraordinary circumstances.

His father was very successful.

But if you visit Fawn Drive
and see his childhood home,

it's a totally normal home.

I would describe my relationship
with the Kushners as a family friend.

They've been incredibly loyal
and supportive

and I've tried to do the same with them.

[woman] By the mid '90s,

Charlie Kushner
had more than 22,000 apartments.

They were one of the most prominent
real estate companies in the country,

and he was worth about a billion dollars.

I want to welcome all of my guests
who are here today.

I'm proud to be an American

and feel very fortunate
to have the opportunity

to support such great men of leadership,

such great men of character,
of conscience and morals.

[Fox] Charlie's influence
in the political community

was exploding at the same time.

They gave more than a million dollars
to Democratic candidates

in the mid-'90s onwards.

And so, they would have
the Clintons roll through town

and have dinner with them.

They would have Benjamin Netanyahu
come and stay in their house

and sleep in Jared Kushner's
childhood bedroom, and to him...

this was normal.

But most of all I'd like to thank...

the Kushners, Charles and Seryl.

[Fox] These were people who were truly
true-blue Democrats,

but it also served them in New Jersey

which, at that time,
was a Democratic state.

[man] The real estate industry,
for almost any state or local politician,

tends to be
among the biggest political donors.

It is about who has power

and who can help me do
what I need to get done.

[Kocieniewski]
In the Jim McGreevey administration,

Charlie Kushner
was the most powerful donor.

People said
Charlie got the governor elected.

His allies were named to key positions
in the administration.

Charlie was also put on the board
of the Port Authority,

which, for a developer,
is a great position

because it gives you say
over millions of dollars of contracts

and helps you
have decision-making power

about where commuter lines are gonna go,
where highways are gonna go,

the kind of things that real estate
empires rise and fall upon.

Charlie was nominated by McGreevey
to be the head of the Port Authority

when the scandal broke,
and then it all came tumbling down.

For people who don't know
the story behind

why Charlie Kushner landed in jail,
anytime I tell it, people are like...

"Holy shit!"

[reporter] Sex, lies and videotape.

All describe the case against

fat cat Democratic fundraiser
Charles Kushner

in court in Newark today
to face numerous federal charges

relating to allegations
he tampered with government witnesses.

So there's bad blood
in the Kushner family.

Long before everything exploded,

Charlie and his brother
were not getting along,

Charlie and his brother-in-law
were not getting along,

Charlie and his sister
were not getting along,

and a lot had to do with the way
they were running the business,

but Charlie was running the show.

[reporter]
In 2002, Kushner was being investigated

for improper campaign financing.

There are a whole slew of allegations
against Charlie Kushner

that certainly intrigued Chris Christie,

who, at the time, was a US attorney.

[man] Thank you once again, Charles,
for all that you have done

for the Democratic Party.

[Fox] It turned out that Charlie
was exceeding the legal donation limits

that one individual
can give to a candidate

and putting some donations
in other people's names,

and one of those names was his sister.

Charlie believed that his sister
and brother-in-law

were going to cooperate
with Chris Christie and his investigation.

He wanted to do something to stop them.

And what he did was he hired this man

who was going to hire a prostitute

to approach his brother-in-law
and proposition him.

Mr. Kushner engaged in a conspiracy

to hire prostitutes to entice witnesses

into engaging in sex acts
with those prostitutes

and to have those sex acts
then videotaped.

[Fox] The gentleman
who Charlie Kushner had hired

hid a camera
in an alarm clock in the room,

and captured something personally damaging

and hurtful to any marriage or family.

They then sent that tape
to Charlie's sister

with the implication being,

"This is something damaging I caught

and if you cooperate
in this investigation,

I will stop at nothing
to ruin your family,"

even though that's his family too.

[reporter] Multi-millionaire
Charles Kushner stayed cool

as his world was on fire,

moving to meet his fate,
drowning in a sea of cameras.

No matter how rich or powerful you are...

[reporter]
Chris Christie will take you down.

In just one month, he got a plea deal
from the powerful political player.

[reporter 2] Writing to the judge,

Kushner said there was no moral defense
for his actions

and that he regrets his behavior.

[Fox] This makes you think differently
about your parent, right?

This is not something you want to learn
about your father doing.

But the thing about the Kushners,
and it's the same with the Trumps,

is a family isn't just family.

Family is business.
And your dad is your boss.

[Kurson] He became, at 25 years old,

the leader of this gigantic,
sprawling, complex company,

and Jared stepped into that role

and handled it with incredible skill.

[Fox] Jared went to visit his father
in prison every weekend.

He's incredibly loyal to Charlie.

No matter what Charlie did,
he was going to stand by his side,

but I also think he needed
Charlie's guidance at that point.

[reporter] Now sources tell us
Kushner may be eligible

to serve just half of his 24 months term

after telling prison officials
he had an alcohol abuse problem,

then completing a 12-step
drug abuse program

that qualifies for early release.

Convicted New Jersey
real estate magnate Charles Kushner

is a free man tonight
after being released from a halfway house.

[interviewer] Did what happened to him
change your perspective, generally?

My father is an incredible man.
We're very, very close.

He's always been a great mentor
and friend and I think that, you know,

everything that we experienced

from the situation
was something that I think

we all decided
that it was going to be an experience

we're going through and we're gonna use it
to just make us better,

and, you know, you...

um...

Maybe we'll just cut off on that one.
Is that okay?

-[man] Sure.
-If we cut off on that one?

[man] We're gonna change tapes anyway.

[Fox] The press around the Kushner family
was so bad

that I think Jared understood the power

of being able to control the message.

Having control in what stories
were written about you

and what stories were written
about competitors of yours

or social friends of yours
was something to behold

in the Manhattan world
that he wanted to be involved in.

[Kushner]
I had no newspaper experience whatsoever.

I had some business experience,
whether it be in real estate,

but I just saw it
as an amazing opportunity

to buy a New York paper.

[Kurson] In the Observer's early years,

Graydon Carter was its editor-in-chief,

and he went on to be
the world-famous editor of Vanity Fair.

Then the great Peter Kaplan came in
and made the Observer's brand

what it became in the popular imagination.

Among Peter Kaplan's finds
were Candace Bushnell,

and a column they devised together
called Sex and the City.

How the hell did we get into this mess?

[Kurson]
It was never a large circulation paper,

but it was charming and insider-ish

and chronicled the lives
of the most powerful and sophisticated,

and, let's face it, wealthy New Yorkers

who are some of the most powerful,
wealthy people in the world.

[man] I've been a reader
of The New York Observer

since I came to New York
about 20 years ago.

I'm from Texas.

I didn't know a lot about New York City,

and it was kind of my portal into
the New York of my imagination.

So I had a lot of fondness for the place
and I was thrilled when he called.

[Kushner] When I was 25 years old
and I bought a newspaper,

with no experience in media,

I came into a group of people

who were very ingrained
in the ways that they did their business.

And I noticed that the industry
was changing very rapidly,

and for me, it was very important
to try to drive change

and get us to a different place,
and so I would push.

[Pope] I mean, I think initially,
he was quite excited

about the idea
that he was going to save journalism.

And I was excited to be involved

with somebody who was
going to save journalism. [chuckles]

But then, it just became so obvious

that you can't do that
if you don't care

about any of the stuff
that comes out the other end,

if you don't care
about any of the content.

That was really his blind spot,
I guess.

I think that,
as long as you're looking at newspapers

as some kind of marketing service
for whatever brands

that want to get to the people,

you'll end up finding that newspapers,
over time,

will continue to be a great means
through which to reach consumers.

[Pope] It became very clear
that he didn't care about ideas.

He didn't care about issues.
He didn't care about debates.

What he did care about was

what could the Observer do for him.

[Kurson] Rich people buy media properties

so that they can have a platform
for their views,

and I don't think there's anything
inherently wrong with that,

so long as you observe
the long-established norms of publishing,

and Jared did better
than any publisher I ever worked for.

[man] I worked for The New York Observer
for about 20 years, doing covers.

I never met Jared

until The New York Observer
celebrated their anniversary

at the Four Seasons Restaurant.

It was a sea of young, white,
I assume real estate developers,

and some of the actual staffers
from The New York Observer,

a couple of them.

So I walked up to Jared,
who was standing by himself,

just sipping champagne,
looking out at the crowds, Gatsby-like.

I approached him. I said,
"Hey Jared, it's Drew Friedman."

He looked at me, extended his hand,
I shook it and he said, "Hi, Drew.

I'd like to talk to you,
but there are many

far more important people here
for me to talk to right now."

And he said it with a smile on his face.

He wasn't trying to offend me,
I didn't think.

He was just being completely honest
that he had no interest to talk to me.

That's Jared.

[Pope] There was the main newspaper
that was called The New York Observer,

and there was the kind of sister paper

that was called the Commercial Observer,

which was a trade publication

that just covered
the commercial real estate business.

Real estate and newspapers,
all rolled up into one.

Why? Why now?

Well, I think it's actually a good time
to try and innovate.

My main business is real estate
and I also own a newspaper,

and some other websites
and online media businesses,

and at the end of the day,
we're looking at different niches...

[Pope] Every year,
they'd produce something called

the Commercial Observer 100 or 50,
but it was kind of a power list

of the most important people
in that world,

and it was one of the very few things
Jared would obsess about.

Maybe this was the only reason
he owned the Observer,

because it was a very obvious way

to reward and stroke people
he cared about,

and for whatever reason,
they cared about it, too.

[man] Real estate developers
like to read that stuff.

Sometimes they like to read
their name in press,

but I don't think anyone
who's very credible

is really worrying about...

where they sit
on some Commercial Observer...

publications list.

I got to know Charlie Kushner
in the mid-to-late '90s.

He was a good guy to do business with,

and personally, over the years,
it's just grown.

I rely on him for advice,
and he's been great, he's a friend.

They're a family business,

they're entrepreneurs,
they're risk-takers.

And if you're willing
to put down big bets

in the real estate business,
you end up getting big rewards.

[Melby] 666 5th Avenue is
a 1.4 million square foot office building

located along 5th Avenue,

one of the premier shopping corridors
in New York.

It's 41 stories, but it's older.

It has this sort of 1950s,

Mad Men-era chic to it.

[Kocieniewski] A lot of people
in real estate thought its time had passed

and it was in need of an update,

but the Kushners were looking to buy
a big marquee property,

and it was a big name on a big address

and it was a way to make a splash
in New York.

[Fox] Jared was the one who really sought
to bring Kushner Companies into Manhattan

in a way that Donald Trump sought
to bring his father's real estate business

from the outer boroughs
into Manhattan as well.

[Melby] In late 2006, early 2007,

everybody believed the bull market
is going to last forever.

The value of New York real estate
is only ever going to go up.

It's hard for them to find a building
to buy for that reason.

Nobody wants to sell,
so trying to buy into a market

where everybody's happy to hold

means they really have to push
their number up really high.

[reporter] A midtown skyscraper
has been sold for a record price.

Tishman Speyer sold the property
for 1.8 billion dollars

to New Jersey-based Kushner Companies.

That's the most ever paid

for an office building
in the United States.

[Melby] They moved their offices there,

so this really marks in a very serious
and clean-cut sort of way

the transition
from where they came from

to where they're going.

But they bought at the worst possible time
because it was right before the crash.

[bell ringing]

[man 1] The Dow tumbled
more than 500 points.

[man 2] The Dow Traders are standing there
watching in amazement.

I don't blame them.

This is volatility we haven't seen
since way before you and I were born.

The bull market that ran
from 2002 to 2007

has been erased.

After the financial crash,
666 turned into a time bomb.

The prices of commercial real estate
has fallen by 40 percent in many places.

Vacancy rates are up.

[Melby] Kushner Companies sold between 1.8
or 2 billion dollars of apartments,

Charlie's empire essentially,

to be able to buy 666 5th Avenue,

and when the financial crisis hit,

that put a lot of pressure on them
really fast.

[Kocieniewski]
Everything was on the line,

and 666 threatened
to weigh the company down.

[Carr] Kushner Companies is a gambler

masquerading as a landlord.

They don't actually care
about the tenants.

They are just in this
for their bottom line.

New York city is in the midst
of an affordable housing crisis.

Over half of all tenants are paying

over 30% of their income in rent.

The only safeguard that stands
between most New Yorkers

and displacement and human misery
is our system of rent regulation.

Rent regulation has two protections:

One, it protects you
from excessive rent increases,

and second,
it guarantees you a renewal of your lease

so that your landlord
cannot remove you at will.

[Carr] Kushner Companies
will oftentimes buy out

these rent-stabilized buildings,

and they will try to make tenants' lives
a living hell.

Construction harassment
is a deliberate technique

that landlords use

to systematically harass tenants
out of their apartments,

using illegal, destructive,
and hazardous construction.

So the idea is, essentially,
"I can't get you out legally,

so I'm going to make your environment
so uncomfortable

and so disruptive
that you're going to want to leave"?

That's the idea?

That's right. It's a form of physical
and psychological torture.

[woman] All of us were
going in the hallways,

saying, "What's going on?

Why is this happening?

Just men walking up and down the stairs,

middle of the night,
drilling, drilling, all drilling.

And they didn't stop,
they just didn't stop.

They kept on going 24/7.

And the only reason, their purpose,
was for them to get everybody out.

Kushner will then renovate the apartments

and remove them
from the rent stabilization rolls.

The potential rent increase
can be enormous in a very hot market.

If a tenant is paying $900 a month,
let's say,

they vacate the apartment,
the landlord does renovations,

they can actually increase the rent
all the way up to $4,000, $5,000 a month.

[woman] I am one of the only remaining

rent-stabilized people in this building.

Maybe three months
into the whole construction thing,

a couple of men with suits on came in

and offered me
this really cheap amount,

and I didn't even know. I--

For me, it was a lot of money,

but when I tried to talk to somebody else
about it, he said, "This is nothing."

What they were offering me
to get out of here.

And, uh, so-- and I really had
no other place to go.

[man] I've made a home here,
I know everybody on this street,

and I don't want to leave.

And if I did leave,
I couldn't come back.

-[man] How long have you lived here?
-Twenty-three years. Yeah.

I wanted to take
a documentary account on it

to make sure that everyone knows,
and so I took a picture,

maybe three times a week,

of the hole, and it was a waterfall.

I mean, it really was just dripping.

Good. Thanks, guys.

Ivanka's Instagram is actually open
to the public, still,

so it's like you can comment on it,
anything you want.

And she posted a picture of her and Jared
next to a waterfall,

and it said "Chasing waterfalls."

And I wrote "There's still one
in my apartment, Ivanka.

come by whenever you want to chase my
waterfall.

We've been told by the Housing Department
a couple of times that it's just business.

That's how they feel about it,
is they're just doing business.

Jared Kushner's family business
is facing a lawsuit,

accused of pushing out tenants

from a rent-stabilized building
by creating unlivable conditions.

Many residents moved out

as the apartments were converted
into luxury condos,

complaining of unbearable
construction noise and toxic dust.

[Carr] At 184 Kent Avenue,

there was a lawsuit that we organized,

and in that building we found

that Kushner Companies
exposed tenants to lead,

lung carcinogens, and crystalline silica.

There were many families who left

because they didn't want their children
to get lead poisoning.

That is construction harassment
in its worst form.

[reporter]
More than 250 rent-stabilized apartments

were either emptied or sold.

Those sales have totaled
more than 155 million dollars so far.

The firm was run for much of that time

by President Donald Trump's son-in-law,
Jared Kushner.

[Carr] The Kushners like to deny
their involvement in these schemes

by hiding behind these shell companies,
these LLCs.

But we've audited mortgages

with Jared Kushner's signature
all over them.

So there's no question to me
that they are culpable here.

[man] In a place like New York,
where rents are always going up,

the whole game is to try
to get rid of the tenants you have,

get new tenants in, charge them more.

Here in Baltimore,
which is a much more depressed market,

you're not trying to drive the tenant
out of the unit.

You want to keep the tenant

because he may not have someone else
to come into it.

You want to squeeze as much money
out of that tenant as you possibly can.

What first caught my attention
about all this

was a reference I saw
in a couple of articles

to Kushner owning some apartments
in Baltimore.

Out of curiosity,
I ran the name of his real estate company

in the state court database,

and it was as if the computer blew up.

There were so many results that came back,

and I saw that there was one case
after another

of Jared Kushner's company

going after tenants in these complexes.

I had lived in Baltimore
for eight or nine years

before I realized
that these complexes even existed.

They're all kind of on the edge of town,
they're along highways

and they're huge.
They're-- they're hundreds of units each.

Once I started coming to the complexes,
I spent several weeks

just going to one complex after another

and trying to really understand
what life was like here.

The complexes
have these incredibly idyllic names.

One's called Whispering Woods.

Another one is Riverview Apartments,
Cove Village.

They sound really quite lovely.

Um, they're not.

[man] So, down here,

as you can see,
there's still mold growing

from where the old water tank
had been leaking,

and they had pulled the countertops off.

They never even put
the countertop back on.

Literally.

[countertop squeaks]

The countertop's just sitting there.

[MacGillis]
The maintenance was so shoddy

that it really seems to be by design.

You can make this business work

if you spend as little money as possible
on the upkeep.

And if you're just a few days late
with your rent,

you will immediately get hit
with late fees.

If your rent is $800, let's say,

and you're a few days late one month

and they hit you
with a 50 dollar late fee,

and maybe on top of that,
also a 50 dollar, quote, "court fee."

You then, the next month,
pay your 800 dollar rent,

but they take 50 dollars of that

and put it toward that late fee
from the month before.

Take another 50,

and put it toward the so-called court fee
from the month before.

So only 700 dollars
is going toward your rent for that month.

So they can claim that
you were once again late on your rent,

hit you with another late fee,
another court fee,

and it snowballs on from there.

So you never catch up.
You're always getting hit with fees.

It's called "churning,"
is the industry term for it.

As this is going on, tenants have no idea
what's actually being done to them,

they're just mystified, and they end up
just paying far above their actual rent.

You know, every couple months,
we're paying out extra.

So the little bit of money
that we could be saving...

Goes toward the fee.

...goes right to them, and literally,

we don't have the money,
because we go check by check, pretty much.

One of the things that jumped out at me
when I first came to the complex

is that a lot of the doors
would have these bright yellow or pink...

notices slapped on them,

and those were the late rent notices.

And you just see them
every three or four doors.

It was meant to shame people, really.
It was kind of a scarlet letter.

They would just slap them right on there,

so everyone could see

that this mom or that mom
was once again late on her rent.

The goal is not really to evict people.

You want to squeeze as much money
out of them as you possibly can

through the threat of eviction.

This one says,

"As you know, we're pursuing an eviction
regard to the above captioned,"

which the outstanding right here

is $372.

And that was a lot of them late fees
that were just...

coming up from God knows where.

[interviewer]
And you folks are Trump supporters, right?

-Yeah.
-I am.

-[interviewer] Why did you vote for Trump?
-Because he takes care of business.

[MacGillis]
The complexes are very diverse.

You have a lot of
working-class African-Americans,

some Hispanics, but then also
quite a few working class white people,

and a lot of them were Trump voters,
without realizing that their landlord,

the person that they were having
so many troubles with,

was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

[Fox] Jared and Ivanka met
through a business connection, actually,

a real estate connection,

and it was someone who said,
"You two should meet.

You would like each other.
You may do business together."

[reporter] Both of you, I was interested
to learn, work on Sundays.

We do. We work two blocks away
from each other on Sundays too,

so I can actually look out my window

and see into his window.

That's romantic.

-Yes, I see-- I see it now.
-We both, um...

I guess own the buildings

we work in on 5th Avenue.

[Fox] They come from very rich,
public-facing families.

They're both the favorite children
in those families,

and them coming together
was sort of like

the two gods from each individual
chosen family were brought together,

and they were going to be

this ultimate power couple
in New York real estate.

[Kurson]
I think I was the first of anybody,

on Jared's side, to meet her,

because it was controversial that,
you know, they were different religions,

and I think Jared sensed
that I would like her

and probably sensed
that I would say good things about her

to the rest of the family, and I did.

[Fox] As one person who knows both of them
and knows them as a couple very well

described to me,
they use the Yiddish word bashert,

which means they're fated for one another,
and I believe that.

Look at this, read all about it.

Wedding bells ringing this weekend
for Ivanka Trump.

The entrepreneur
and daughter of Donald Trump

married Jared Kushner
at her father's golf course

in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Dozens of politicians and celebrities
were among the 500 attendees.

The bride wore a Vera Wang gown

inspired by Grace Kelly.

[applause]

Thank you Jared,

and thank you, Ivanka,

for marrying Jared
and giving someone else a chance

-to win Bachelor this year.
-[audience laughs]

[Fox] Jared Kushner became a name
that people knew,

and when you become a name
that people know,

you get invited to parties,
you get on different media lists,

you're suddenly ranked
in all these rankings

that people care about,

and so he sort of elevated himself
to what he wanted to be

and amongst the people
he wanted to socialize with.

And 666 was, at least publicly,

Jared and the Kushner Companies' trophy,

until it almost became their undoing.

[Kocieniewski] They had to find financing,
they were losing money on it,

and all the while, Jared's climbing
the social ladder, appearing in public.

Behind the scenes, they're desperate.

They're trying to find ways
to get other investors in.

Other investors weren't willing to go in
without taking a huge stake.

[Fox] And that was
the whole pressure cooker

that the Kushner Companies was under

as President Trump
was running for election in 2016.

We need somebody that can take
the brand of the United States

and make it great again.

It's not great again.

I did not plan my life
to go into to politics.

But I actually think he likes politics
more than he likes real estate.

I'm excited
and he's very good at politics, so...

[Kushner] He didn't have
all the traditional entourage

that came with a politician.

And so, I kept getting called on
to do more and more in the campaign.

Come on up here, Jared.

Stand up, Jared. Say hello to the crowd.

Jared has been amazing
and it's been just great.

[Kushner] I got the chance to travel
with my father-in-law

and to really see the country
and to see what he was fighting for--

[man] What did you see?

Um, I saw a lot of people
who felt like they didn't have a voice,

and who felt like the people in Washington

had left them behind
and weren't representing their interests.

[Carr] This latest investigation

was prompted by a tip from an insider.

And once we conducted
a comprehensive analysis

to determine whether
what we were being told was true,

it actually turned out to be much worse
than we thought.

[distorted voice] Kushner Companies
takes capitalism to an extreme.

So I decided to become a whistle-blower

because I really feel guilty
about taking part in that.

And you'll see,
if you look across the Kushner portfolio,

that in a lot of places,
they took the easy way out

instead of taking the safe way out.

[Carr] He mentioned to me
that Kushner Companies,

in a number of his buildings,
doesn't have certificates of occupancy.

Think of it as like a driver's license
for landlords,

and just like you and I
would have to pass a driver's exam,

a landlord like Kushner Companies

would need to pass
a series of building inspections, right,

in order to get
a certificate of occupancy.

I cannot think
of a more important document

than this one.

And I think we should literally look
into every single one of his properties

and look for patterns.

[woman] My ordeal with Kushner Companies
began in 2013.

Construction had started
in the apartments above me.

I come home one day
and I hear a weird noise.

I come towards the kitchen

and suddenly, all hell breaks loose.

Water comes gushing

into the kitchen through the ceiling,

like out of a water hydrant.

The kitchen was destroyed.

It was complete mayhem.

Two weeks later, I come in,

and my whole bedroom ceiling

had collapsed onto my bed.

If I had been at home,

I could have gotten really hurt,
if not worse,

because large chunks of brick

and also some cement type,
but very heavy,

came down from the ceiling.

[Carr] Tenants like Uta are in danger.

Our analysis found

that Kushner Companies has been performing
illegal electrical work

and illegal gas work in her building.

And the reason

that a certificate of occupancy issue
is so important

is that it's there to ensure

that buildings
that have residential tenants

are safe to live in.

We know how important this is.

I mean,
I think a block and a half away in 2015,

-there was a building that exploded.
-That's exactly right. Yes.

-Uh, it was a gas explosion.
-Yes.

And that was during the time

when there was construction
in the building,

and it was on everybody's mind.
Night and day.

A grim discovery at the scene
of that horrific explosion and fire.

Two bodies found
beneath the wreckage of the building

that collapsed in the inferno.

[reporter] Investigators now pursuing
reports from tenants

who say,
in the hours before the explosion,

they were told, if they smelled gas,

not to call 9-1-1 or Con Ed,

but to let the landlord know.

[Carr] And one of those contractors
that performed the gas work

in that building
that was owned by another landlord

had done work in the past
for Kushner Companies.

That is downright frightening.

[distorted voice] If you run a bio
on several buildings in the portfolio,

you'll find that they have been cited
for violations,

particularly for fire safety.

They chop up apartments

and renovate them
into smaller apartments

and don't care to make sure
that they're up to fire code,

and that leads to their inability

to legalize
their certificate of occupancy.

All of the management,
from property managers

right up to Charles Kushner,

know that there are illegal things
going on,

and they're more concerned
with the exposure than the safety.

[Carr's voice] These are documents
that list out all of the violations

and the fines that Kushner Companies
has received over time.

We're seeking to establish
a pattern of practice,

so we can understand
why Kushner Companies

hasn't been obtaining
these certificates of occupancy.

Illegal construction without a permit.

The most dangerous violation we found
are fire code violations.

In one of their buildings,
they were hit with a criminal summons

for ignoring a fire commissioner's order

to make their buildings habitable.

[distorted voice] The real deal breaker
for me was the fire safety.

It's not supposed
to be an arbitrary issue,

it's not supposed to be subjective.

The code is very clear.

And my biggest fear was to wake up
and find out

that some college kid fell asleep
smoking a cigarette

and accidentally started a fire
that killed him and his roommates

or half the building,
and they couldn't get out

because no one checked to make sure
that the building was up to fire code.

[Carr] One-seventy, electric.

This was a $16,000 violation.

The government
is not proactively enforcing the laws.

When they do enforce
and they do fine a landlord,

they are then oftentimes
failing to collect those fines.

So when landlords like Kushner Companies
are committing these violations,

there's essentially no deterrent.

The Kushner Foundation
had made a considerable contribution

to Governor Cuomo.

There was also a article showing

that Jared Kushner and Mayor de Blasio

had a close e-mail relationship going on.

And I think that explains why

our organization,
which has such a tiny budget

compared to our enforcement agencies,

have had to take the lead on this.

-[Torres] Hey. How are you? Doing well?
-Hey.

-How's everything going?
-Very good. Thank you.

[Torres] I was born in poverty.

I was raised by a single mother
who had to raise three children,

often on little more than minimum wage.

The one constant that I had growing up

was a stable, affordable home.

And when I became an elected official

at age 25 in 2014,

I went in there with a sense of mission

that we have to preserve
affordable housing

as a safety net for all New Yorkers.

If you look at the violation data,
you realize what the motive is, right?

They don't want
to legalize their buildings

because that would cost them a fortune
and they would lose money long-term.

[Torres] It's rare for an owner
to receive a criminal summons

for ignoring an order
from the fire commissioner.

[Carr] Yeah.

[Torres] How you run your company

speaks volumes
about the kind of person you are,

especially when you're responsible

for the lives of tenants

who want nothing more
than a fighting chance at a better life.

[MacGillis]
A lot of the tenants they were going after

were people who didn't even live
in the complexes anymore.

They were going back into the files

from before they even owned the complexes,
looking for people

they could conceivably
bring lawsuits against.

So you had people who had moved on,
who were living

in completely different parts of town,
completely different cities,

suddenly getting letters in the mail
from some entity they've never heard of.

People had no idea what it was for.

They didn't realize
that Jared Kushner had bought this complex

that they used to live in,
and was now coming after them

for as much money
as he could possibly get from them.

This is where Kamiia lived.
Number ten, High Seas Court, Cove Village.

[woman]
When I moved to Essex, Maryland,

it was very peaceful, it was very quiet.

It was much different
than when I grew up in East Baltimore.

My experience changed

when a neighbor of mine

started to display some erratic behavior

and it became very uncomfortable for me.

I asked that I could vacate the property

and I was given permission to do so.

[MacGillis] Couple years later,

she starts getting
threatening letters in the mail

from something she's never heard of:

JK2 Westminster LLC.

Threatening her,
saying that she owed, at the time,

about $3,000 or $4,000 in unpaid rent

for having broken her lease
at Cove Village.

[Warren] At the time when I received
the summons, I had three children.

I was a single mom.

I was working full time

and going to school full-time
to better myself,

and I knew, at that time,
I could not afford a lawyer.

[MacGillis] There's no kind of legal aid

that steps in to help people
at this point in the process.

And the attorney's fees
that they're being assessed

are the fees for the attorneys
being used by the Kushner Companies.

That's one reason why

this aggressive pursuit
made financial sense.

You think,
"Why would you go through all this hassle

to nickel and dime people,
and have to pay your lawyers

to go after people like this?"

Well, it's because the tenants
end up having to pay your lawyers.

I felt hopeless...

because...

I was in an environment
that I was not familiar with,

being in a courtroom.

I told the judge
that I did not owe this money

and that I was given permission
to vacate the property at the time.

The property manager
had signed this paper.

But,

when JK2 Westminster came after me,

it was years later, I had moved,

and I no longer had the paper.

[MacGillis] So the court hits her
with a judgment that's close to $5,000

with all these fees piled on.

At the request of the Kushner Companies,

the court garnishes her wages,
garnishes her bank account.

I had about $900 in my bank account.

It was payday.

I was going to the bank
and all of my money was gone.

Every single penny. I was left with zero.

And I was devastated.

[MacGillis]
Her court pleadings are heartbreaking.

One of her pleadings went like this.

"I am a single mom of three..."

[MacGillis, Warren] "...and my bank
account was wiped clean by the plaintiff.

"I cannot take care of my kids

when they snatch all of my money
out of my account.

I do not feel I owe this money.

Please have mercy on my family and I."

I asked her what the response was

from the Kushners' lawyer
when she made this pleading in court,

and she said his response was,

"This is not going to go away.
You will pay us."

[breathing shakily]

[sniffling]

[whispers] Sorry.

[man] Digging into Jared Kushner's
companies in Maryland,

I found that they are financing
case after case after case after case...

in court, trying to get their money.

It's kind of like a Goodfellas element
for collection. Like, you lost your job.

Fuck you, pay me.
Your wife got sick, fuck you, pay me.

[man] Business is bad? Fuck you, pay me.

Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me.

Place got hit by lightning, huh?
Fuck you, pay me.

Kushner Companies went so far
as to take the most extreme step

in Maryland to collect,

which is something called
a body attachment.

A body attachment
is essentially a civil arrest warrant.

The sheriff will be able
to detain this person

and put them in jail for debt
they owe you and have not paid.

Even if they haven't met
all the parameters required

to actually prove
that that amount is actually owed to them.

That is a modern-day debtors prison.

You have to prove
that you've given them notice

that they owe you this money,

and a lot of tenants said-- I've spoken to
who have dealt with this process--

They either don't get the notice

or they say they didn't get the notice.

So they don't even know
to show up to court.

[Warren]
"Show cause. Defendant not present.

Request body attachment."

They wanted me in jail.

Over money I did not owe.

That's sad.

[Donovan] It's rare in Maryland

for companies to go to that extent.

The Kushner Companies does it
more aggressively

than any other apartment company
in Maryland.

[MacGillis] Jared Kushner's company
was highly leveraged.

They were buying all these big, fancy
buildings in Manhattan and elsewhere.

So you needed to have some cash flow
coming in

as ballast for that real estate empire.

That's what these units provide.

Every month, you're getting
just millions and millions of dollars

in rent checks from people.

The rent's not a lot
by Manhattan standards,

it's $800-$900 a month
that people are paying.

But you multiply that across 15 complexes
here in the Baltimore area.

Eight thousand units total. That adds up.

And on top of that, if you can squeeze
a lot of money out of people

in late fees and court fees
and all the rest,

then it really starts to adds up.

Jared Kushner, in his own disclosure form,

said that he had collected
1.5 million dollars in 2016 alone

from these apartment complexes.

The company, as a whole,
collected 30 million dollars in 2016.

I, of course,
approached the Kushner Companies

to ask them about the way
they were treating these tenants.

They basically said,

"Yes, we're being very aggressive
in going after tenants,

but we're doing so
because we have a fiduciary duty

to our ownership partners to collect
as much money as we possibly can."

[Donovan] At the root of his business

is this imbalance of power,
this landlord versus tenant.

This landed gentry class,

this powerful rich class,

pretty much against everybody else
that's in my life,

working class people
who are just getting by.

[Fox] This is a guy who has been handed
every single opportunity.

But I think the general impression
about Jared's job

at the helm of Kushner Companies
was that he wasn't very effective.

Under his watch, they bought 666,

which has been an unmitigated disaster
for the Kushner Companies.

-[dial tone sounds]
-[numbers beeping]

[man] My firm, Iron Hound, and myself,

we were part of a team
that helped the Kushners

figure out a way to restructure 666 debt.

Never once did anyone seem panicked
that somehow, the Kushner family

was going to topple over
if we didn't work it out.

It was an issue, but my feeling--

It was a very, very small percentage
of the Kushner Companies' net worth.

[Melby] We don't have access
to Kushner Companies' books.

But what we do know is
it's the biggest thing they've ever bought

and we talked to one person

who described it as kind of like
the piece of the Jenga tower

that can send the whole empire tumbling.

[Fox]
In the beginning of the administration,

the debt that they had taken out
on the building

was about to come due.

And if they did not find
an investor to come in

and bail them out,

it would have been catastrophic.

Kushner Companies, as we know it,

wouldn't exist.

[man] Kushner has acknowledged

meeting with Russian ambassador
Sergei Kislyak in December.

Kislyak then arranged for Kushner to meet

with the head of Russian-owned VEB Bank,
Sergey Gorkov.

Jake, you might as well
just call him Putin's banker.

Well-connected to the Kremlin,
to the oligarchs in Russia.

[reporter] At the time, Kushner was
still CEO of Kushner Companies,

which was trying to attract financing

for a building project in Manhattan.

[reporter 2] Just what Kushner
and Gorkov discussed isn't clear.

The Russian bank
says it was real estate business.

The White House says no,
it was actually government business.

[reporter 3] His contacts with Russia
are now making headlines,

but he's also been a main point of contact

with other foreign officials
in Mexico, China, and Canada.

[man] American intelligence officials
were picking up intercepted communications

that show
that the leaders of these other countries,

Mexico, Israel, the UAE,

were deliberately seeking
to have contact with Jared Kushner

because they wanted to try
to use his business commitments,

debts, obligations,
his need for investment,

as a way to try to manipulate him
on policy points.

[Kocieniewski]
During the presidential transition,

they looked around the world
to try to save 666.

All of a sudden,
doors opened that had been closed

and people who were reluctant
to meet with them

all of a sudden wanted to meet with them.

It was clear that Jared's ascendance
in the political firmament

had given him a kind of access
that other developers couldn't dream of.

[Verrone]
The loan was maturing, so...

meetings and trying to figure out
how to resolve the debt

was going to happen
whether Donald became president or not.

It just so happened to correspond
with the administration.

A four billion dollar investment deal
from a Chinese firm

is raising concerns
over a potential conflict of interest

for the president's top adviser
and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

[Kocieniewski] To bail out 666,

Jared met with Anbang,
which is the Chinese insurance company

owned by people
very close to the Chinese government.

[reporter] As an expert in Chinese
politics and corruption told the Times,

the chairman of Anbang insurance company
is, quote,

"Purchasing political prestige,

and that is a priceless asset
for somebody like him."

[Kocieniewski]
It was a huge boon to the Kushners.

It would've given them
like 400 million dollars in cash.

Now a business deal
between the real estate business

of Jared Kushner's family
and a Chinese company

to redevelop a Manhattan skyscraper
has been scrapped.

This after some members of Congress
raised a red flag over ethics concerns.

[Melby]
And after that deal falls through,

there's just panic within the company,

and they are losing anywhere
from 15 to 40 million dollars a year

on this building.

[Kocieniewski] But, in the end,
666 was bailed out by Brookfield,

which is a company
that the majority shareholder

is the Qatari Sovereign Wealth fund,
25 percent.

It works out well for the Kushners.

The fact that their biggest investor
is the Qatari government

raises eyebrows and raises questions.

This is why you don't typically have
government employees

who have
these sort of business entanglements,

and this is why
there were legitimate concerns

raised about him
getting a security clearance

in the White House.

I can just tell you very definitively.

There have been no actions I've taken
that have benefited me financially.

[stammering]

To the contrary, you know,
I've had to divest of a lot of things

and avoid a lot of things,
but I think I've been fully vetted now...

Jared did divest himself
of some of his business interests,

or most of his business interests,
but he them in a trust.

And the trust is controlled by his mother.

[Kocieniewski] And within
the Kushner family and within the company,

it's widely known that Jared

begins and ends every day
by talking to his dad.

[Melby] He was reared in this company,

and the Kushners' financial lives

are still inextricably linked to it
in every single conceivable way.

[Kocieniewski] So if you have someone
who's the senior advisor

in the White House,

who has a virtual unlimited portfolio

-of issues in which you can weigh in...
-[clock ticking]

...the potential for conflict
is almost limitless.

If you don't want conflicts,
go in your apartment,

stay there and lock the door
and don't go to work, don't do anything.

There are new questions tonight
about conflicts of interest.

...conflicts of interest...

[man] ...controversial EB-5 visas
in China...

[man 2] Kushner is keeping parts
of his family's real estate empire.

[man 3] Kushner revised
his financial disclosures yet again...

...these holdings...

...still the beneficiary of trusts...

Opportunity zones.
This program could actually benefit

the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

[man 4] ...Cadre, while Kushner
worked as an international envoy...

[man 5] ...with foreign countries
is not good thinking...

[woman] Jamal Khashoggi
died during his interrogation.

[man 6] ...influencing their participation
in a cover-up because...

[man 7] Deutsche Bank employees
reported suspicious activity

involving President Trump
and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

[woman 2] What exactly is he doing?

[man 8] ...black hole where we don't know
what all these entanglements are.

Again, there's been
numerous front page stories

talking about potential areas
where there could be conflicts,

but I think that we want people
who have been successful

in different areas going into government.

And so that's why you have
Office of Government Ethics,

you have compliance
and you have to adhere to that compliance,

and I think I've done
a perfect job in doing that.

In an interview last month,
Kushner's father defended him

against these claims
of conflict of interest.

He described ethics watchdogs
as, quote, "jerks"

who, quote, "can't get real jobs."

Because the Kushner Companies
is a privately held company,

disclosure is not something
that comes natural.

So, I think when Jared went to government,

the concept of doing that
was slightly foreign to him.

You can trace it all back
to the problems

Charlie had with the tabloids
around that time.

[Melby]
With Jared, there's just a distrust

and a guardedness there
that is learned from past experience.

[Kurson] I don't think
Jared puts a ton of emphasis

on how he's perceived.

He thinks that doing good work

will eventually dictate how he's viewed,

and the people whose opinion
he really cares about,

they know what he's about.

[Friedman] I had done a sketch of Jared
as Dorian Gray.

You know, he's a handsome guy

and I always thought he looked like
the actor who played Dorian Gray

in the 1940s film
Hurd Hatfield.

As I grow old,
this picture will remain always young.

If it were only the other way,

if it were I who was always to be young,

and a picture that was to grow old.

[Friedman] And the Dorian Gray analogy
is something that I just clung on to.

[man] Every vile thought and act,
every criminal deed

left its mark upon the painted canvas

that was to bear the burden of his shame.

[Friedman] But it needed a twist.

So the painting of Jared's soul

is Donald Trump.

[Fox] Jared is not in the White House,

and he was not on the campaign,

because he truly believed
in the politics of it.

He was there to win.

And now he's there
to capitalize on that win.

[Kurson] This assumption that Jared
has supported his father-in-law

out of self-interest
is belied by the fact

that he happens to share a great deal
of the president's worldview.

[Pope] Jared and Trump share
a view of the press.

They share the sense that

if reporters aren't gonna do something
that's good for you,

what's the point?

[Warren] Alec's story brought
so much positive attention

to my story and others.

I don't think
I really understood initially

how much of an impact
it would make.

[MacGillis] After the article came out,

she got a lot of support from readers

who were so appalled
at what happened to her

that they wanted to support her
with small donations.

And then on top of that, she got an offer

from a local law firm,

which offered to do
pro bono representation

and try to get this huge $5,000 judgment

against her cleared off the record.

"This is a tenant notice to vacate
and terminate tenancy."

This was my permission
to vacate the property.

This was a paper that...

would have changed everything
from the beginning

if I would have had it
in my possession.

I had to put in a written request,

then I went to pick it up
at Baltimore County Housing

when they called me
and told me it was available.

I felt like it was my golden ticket.

[laughs]

[MacGillis]
When these pro bono lawyers reached out

to the Kushner Companies' law firm

to challenge this judgment,
that firm immediately said,

"Okay. We'll get rid of it."

They knew just how bogus it was.

And all it took all along

was for someone
to stick up for Kamiia Warren.

And life is just so good.

I am just really--
I am so grateful for you.

Because I probably would still be
on Section 8,

because I had this thing on my credit.

You know,
so I don't know if you really understand

what you've done for us.

[Donovan]
After the reporting that ProPublica did,

the reporting that the Baltimore Sun did,

you saw tenants get activated.

They filed a class-action lawsuit

against Kushner Companies
and their practices.

The attorney general
started an investigation

into Kushner Companies
that's still ongoing

and you know, we may be called
"the enemy of the people,"

but in my mind,

if that means
I'm the enemy of powerful people,

that's fine, if those powerful people
are abusing their power.

[Warren] I'm very nervous

that Jared Kushner is someone
that is making decisions for our country.

I, firsthand,
know how he conducts business.

[Fox] In his first interview
in the White House,

it was in March 2017,

he described the American people
as the government's customers.

The American people are his boss.

He works for the American people.

That that's the way he saw his job

and the world,

and the way the government works,

was the most telling thing to me
about his personality.

He's only ever been the boss
or a son of a boss.

Everyone's his customer.

Rules and laws don't apply to him
because he is the boss.

[Carr] There's a growing
inequality problem in our country.

As landlords like Kushner Companies
are getting richer

through corruption and through fraud,

its tenants are growing poor.

So there's a larger picture here.

We're looking at the big picture,
not just in New York,

but across the country,

and I think now is the time to do this.

When people are losing faith
in our democratic system,

someone has to step in,

someone has to sound the alarm,

and someone has to tell the government
that things have to change.

[Torres] When we announced
our investigation in March of 2018,

it prompted the Buildings Department
to finally conduct

an overdue investigation of its own,

resulting in more than $200,000 in fines
against Kushner Companies.

So we hope to achieve the same result
when it comes to certificate of occupancy.

When we create transparency
around the abuses of Kushner Companies,

we are pressuring the Buildings Department

to take action to ensure

that residents are safe here
in New York City.

[Carr] Kushner Companies
has been duping the public

by renting out apartments
in buildings that are illegal.

Kushner's failure
to obtain certificates of occupancy

makes it unlawful for them
to collect rent in those buildings,

and most importantly,

and most urgently,

it is endangering the lives of residents.

[Torres]
We cannot afford to stand by passively

while Kushner Companies profits
from the destruction of affordable housing

or profits
from the weaponization of construction.

No owner is above the law,

not even the family
of the president of the United States.

And no owner, including Kushner Companies,

should be allowed to play Russian Roulette

with the two things that matter most
to New Yorkers:

our lives and our homes.

Thank you very much,
we'll take whatever questions you have.

[Carr] This is the culmination
of our investigation

into Kushner Companies.

We've exposed so many things
over the past two years,

and I think this is the biggest thing
that we have exposed to date.

[reporter]
Kushner Companies once again finds itself

in the crosshairs of City Councilmember
Ritchie Torres...

[reporter 2] ...may have been operating
illegal apartment buildings

across New York City.

[reporter 3] ...accuses the Companies
of putting tenants in danger

by allowing...

[reporter 4] ...the new law.

Regulators will now check tax records
to make sure landlords are being honest.

[Carr] We've succeeded
in holding Kushner Companies accountable.

They're now scaling back
their residential portfolio

in New York City.

The pressure that has been brought
from organizations like ours has worked.

The public pressure, the added scrutiny,

the enhanced enforcement,
it made a difference.

Jared Kushner is the ultimate Goliath

because he has the raw power
of the presidency behind him.

But if we can hold
Jared Kushner accountable,

we can hold anyone accountable.