Dutch spies hacked Jared Kushner’s phone, alleges book

The Dutch military intelligence service (MIVD) hacked and monitored the phone of Trump’s son-in-law and current special envoy Jared Kushner in 2018, a new book alleges, allowing them to see hundreds of millions of dollars passing through a UAE bank account.

The allegations were published on Thursday night in Vanity Fair, and come from an excerpt of a book called Princes and Thieves by journalist Matthew Cole, which examines Kushner’s dealings as Trump’s adviser in the Middle East.

Kushner has vehemently denied the accusations on social media, calling them “completely insane”, and “outrageous fabrications”.

The book says that the MIVD gained access to Kushner’s phone in 2018 after a Russian spy was caught in the UK and offered a deal to avoid arrest: he could help the Dutch espionage efforts instead, which he agreed to.

After the spy helped the MIVD gain access to a Russian server, they found screenshots of Kushner’s phone and began conducting their own hack, which succeeded in gaining access. They could then watch everything he did on his screen from 2018.

They saw him log in to an account at First Abu Dhabi Bank, the book claims, which had received around $750 million. The account was owned by an Emirati charity, with Kushner as a signatory, and the money had come from the UAE and Saudi Arabia but was routed through Azerbaijan to hide its origin.

In total the two states allegedly put at least $2 billion into accounts for Kushner, including around $1 billion held in Israel. It is not clear from the excerpt whether the MIVD knew about that account, or shared its findings with the US.

The book says Kushner may have broken US disclosure, bribery and foreign agent laws. Kushner’s lawyer told Vanity Fair he had no connection to the charity or bank accounts and had abided by all legal requirements. The MIVD has not yet commented publicly.