Judd Legum Profile picture
I write Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. | judd@popular.info | Signal: juddlegum.47 | DMs open

Jun 3, 10 tweets

1. For the SECOND TIME IN SIX MONTHS, a foreign real estate development led by Jared Kushner has been derailed by a GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION SCANDAL and mass protests.

Follow along for all the gory details.

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2. Jared and Ivanka are developing a $4 billion resort centered around an uninhabited island in Albania.

The massive project, which includes 10,000 hotel rooms, is located in one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive areas.

popular.info/p/kushners-alb…

3. In 2024, the Albanian government changed the law to allow the area, which was previously part of a protected national park, to be developed.

Then shortly after Trump's election, Kushner, through an LLC, was granted “strategic investor“ status, clearing the way for permits.

4. Kushner’s LLC was granted that status “just weeks before the new US president’s inauguration, even without a business plan or feasibility study for the construction"

popular.info/p/kushners-alb…

5. On Monday, Albania’s Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known as SPAK, confirmed it was investigating Kushner’s project. The investigation will probe the changes to the land’s protected status and how Kushner-controlled entities obtained development rights.

6. An investigative report by BIRN found that the project involved a “network of shady individuals and companies“ including “a businessman accused of links to the Italian mafia"

7. On April 29, government officials allowed barbed wire fencing to be constructed around the coastal portions of the resort property. This cut off miles of beach from the public. Heavy machinery was brought in to construct access roads.

8. The actions prompted regular protests by Albanians. Video captured private security guards dragging a protester across the ground.

This week, protests expanded to Tirana, Albania’s capital, with thousands chanting “Albania is not for sale.”

popular.info/p/kushners-alb…

9. In December, Kushner's plan to build a Trump tower in Belgrade collapsed amid a corruption scandal and mass protests.

popular.info/p/kushners-ser…

10. For more indpendent accountability journalism that is unbought and unbossed subscribe to Popular Information.

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