Conflicts of interests are to be scrupulously guarded against. See, e.g., United States v. Mississippi Valley Generating Co., 364 U.S. 520, 548 (1961)("the 'Dixon-Yates' case," involving TVA rivals' conflicts of interest in a proposed Memphis coal-fired powerplant), citing Matthew 6:24 -- "no [person] can serve two masters," holding that laws and rules preventing conflicts of interest are aimed "not only at dishonor but at conduct that tempts dishonor." All conflict of interest laws are based upon Matthew 6:24 ("A man cannot serve two masters"), which the unanimous Supreme Court decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren deemed to be both a "moral "moral principle" and a "maxim which is especially pertinent if one of the masters happens to be economic self-interest."
From The New York Times::
Jared Kushner Solicits Funds for His Firm While Working as Mideast Envoy
President Trump’s son-in-law is trying to raise $5 billion or more from foreign governments and others for his private equity firm.
Rob Copeland and Maureen Farrell
Rob Copeland and Maureen Farrell are finance reporters in New York.
Jared Kushner, one of the U.S. government’s chief negotiators in the Middle East, is trying to raise more money for his private equity firm from governments in the region.
Mr. Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has spoken with potential investors in recent weeks about raising $5 billion or more for Affinity Partners, his investment firm, according to five people with knowledge of the talks who were not permitted to speak publicly about the discussions.
As part of the fund-raising effort, Affinity’s representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which invests the proceeds of the kingdom’s vast oil reserves, two of the people briefed on the discussions said. PIF is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has formed close ties with Mr. Kushner and the Trump administration.
PIF, which is already the largest and earliest investor in Affinity, invested $2 billion soon after the first Trump administration ended.
As part of that deal, the Saudis must be given the first chance to invest during any subsequent attempts by Affinity to raise funds, the two people said. Other Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that invested earlier in Affinity, including those in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are also expected to be asked for more, the people said.
Mr. Kushner’s fund-raising is expected to stretch on for the better part of this year.
The efforts show the blurring of the lines between public service and private profit-seeking during Mr. Trump’s second term. Only a few weeks ago, in his role as Mr. Trump’s “peace envoy,” Mr. Kushner met in Geneva with Iran’s foreign minister. The U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran began shortly after those meetings concluded without a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Mr. Kushner, 45, also spearheaded the Trump administration’s successful efforts to extract hostages from Gaza and negotiated between Russia and Ukraine in an attempt to end their war.
In January, Mr. Kushner traveled to Davos, Switzerland, as part of the official U.S. delegation at the World Economic Forum, where he unveiled the Trump administration’s plan for a “New Gaza.”
While at Davos, Kushner also discussed his plans to raise billions in new investments for Affinity in private meetings with international business leaders, two people with knowledge of the conversations said.
As recently as December 2024, Mr. Kushner suggested that he would not seek more money for Affinity during Mr. Trump’s second term. That month, he told the podcaster Patrick O’Shaughnessy that he would “pre-emptively try to avoid any conflicts.”
“We don’t have to raise capital for the next four years,” Mr. Kushner added.
That appears to have changed. In materials provided to potential investors this year and reviewed by The New York Times, Affinity indicated that more than three-quarters of the roughly $5 billion it had raised since its founding had already been spent on investments in companies such as Phoenix Financial, an Israeli insurer, and Revolut, a financial technology start-up.
Affinity’s preliminary internal projections suggest that it has earned an estimated 25 percent rate of return since its 2021 founding, the documents show.
The scion of a prominent real estate family, Mr. Kushner is a relative newcomer to private equity, an industry where giant investors buy part or all of companies and try to improve the businesses before selling them.
When he began Affinity, based in Miami, he leaned heavily on his government contacts. During the first Trump administration, Mr. Kushner served as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, often accompanying him on trips to meet with foreign officials.
In addition to the roughly $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s fund, he amassed hundreds of millions of dollars from elsewhere in the region. That raised hackles from government watchdog groups — complaints that Mr. Kushner has frequently publicly dismissed by challenging critics to identify a specific conflict of interest.
This week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning advocacy group, asked in a public letter to the White House that Mr. Kushner be subject to financial disclosure rules similar to other public servants. A White House spokesman did not return a request for comment on the group’s request.
Rob Copeland is a finance reporter for The Times, writing about Wall Street and the banking industry.
Maureen Farrell writes about Wall Street for The Times, focusing on private equity, hedge funds and billionaires and how they influence the world of investing.
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