To understand why these protests have attracted so much attention, it’s important to understand the company at the centre of the controversy: Affinity Partners.
Affinity Partners is a private investment firm founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner after he left the White House. Kushner, of course, is best known not only as a businessman, but as the husband of Ivanka Trump and the son-in-law of Donald Trump. During Donald Trump’s first presidency, Kushner served as a senior adviser, playing a prominent role in areas ranging from criminal justice reform to Middle East diplomacy.
Ivanka Trump was also a senior adviser in the White House and remains one of the most recognisable members of the Trump family. Together, Jared and Ivanka have long occupied a unique position at the intersection of politics, business and celebrity.
After leaving government, Kushner established Affinity Partners in Miami. The firm is relatively small in terms of staff numbers, but it manages billions of dollars in assets and has assembled an executive team with backgrounds in investment management, finance and international business. Supporters point to this experience as evidence that the firm has the expertise to pursue major global projects. Many of the most senior people in Affinity Partners are also former senior people in various Trump administrations, and are seen as fervent loyalists to Donald Trump himself.
What has generated particular interest, however, is where the money comes from.
Reporting has shown that Affinity Partners received significant backing from major sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors in the Middle East. The largest reported investor has been Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which committed two billion US dollars to the firm. This investment fund is operated by Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and Second Deputy Prime Minister of that country. As you may recall, bin Salman was heavily implicated in the suspected murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of bin Salman, who went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Additional funding has reportedly come from other regional investment entities, including the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based investors. Critics note that some of these commitments came despite reservations reportedly expressed by advisers within those institutions.
Now, none of this automatically means wrongdoing has occurred. Large investment firms routinely attract international capital. But it does raise questions that critics believe deserve answers.
Who ultimately benefits from these developments? What level of due diligence has been undertaken before projects involving environmentally sensitive or strategically important locations move forward? How much influence do investors have over strategic decisions? Who exactly are the investors behind these projects, and what expectations might accompany their financial support? Some question whether these international investments are meant to curry favour with President Trump.
These questions matter because the projects under discussion involve more than private land transactions. They involve places of national significance and public interest.
Whether you’re in Albania, Australia or anywhere else in the world, transparency becomes essential whenever private investment intersects with public assets. Citizens have a right to understand who is making decisions, who stands to gain, and whether those decisions are being made in the best interests of the communities affected.
At its heart, that’s what many of these protesters are demanding: not an end to investment, but openness, accountability and the assurance that the public interest comes before private influence.
We hope you enjoyed this article. To read all our business articles, please click here.
Please check out our online shop where you can buy all our Doctor Who and Star Trek books as paperbacks or eBooks.
Please check out our video podcast, “Australia Asks”. There are interviews with Australian federal politicians and political commentators, as well as special features addressing current political issues.
Follow us on Social Media
Leave a Reply