The questions surrounding Jared’s college admissions isn’t the Kushner family’s only scandal. In 2003, officials began probing Charles over whether he had made any illegal campaign donations. Their efforts were aided by William Schulder, the mogul’s brother-in-law and former business associate.
Upon learning that Schulder was helping with this investigation, the once highly-respected real estate developer fired back, devising a plan in which he hired a sex worker for his in-law, who was married to his sister at the time, and recorded their sexual encounter. Charles then showed the incriminating tape to his sister.
Nearly two years following the initial investigation, Charles was convicted of multiple crimes, including witness tampering, illegal campaign contributions and tax fraud. He served 14 months in federal prison before completing his sentence in a halfway house, a debacle that seriously impacted Jared.
“After a couple days of spending time with him and getting that situation as settled as it was going to get, I get back to New York, back to my apartment on Mercer Street and I basically just sat on the floor and I started crying,” he recalled in an interview last month.
Part of these intense emotions, Jared said, came from grappling with how drastically his life had changed. “I realized that there was a lot of things I was angry at,” he explained, naming that at the time, he felt irked at several parties, including both his dad as well as the individuals who prosecuted the case.
Yet amid these tough feelings, Jared said he came to a realization that shaped his perspective on the world.
“Any time there was a challenge, a lot of people get very angry or trying to figure out why it happened or what they could’ve done different,” the businessman revealed. “I always would just say ‘OK, well, it is what it is, how do I take the variables we have and try to make it as good as it can be?’”
