Kushner helped create shell Trump campaign company that secretly paid family members, report says

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Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner allegedly created a shell company that secretly paid the president’s family members and spent more than $600 million, a report says.

The payments to the Trump family and top advisors through the company helped shield financial details from the public, according to Business Insider.

Use of the company, incorporated as American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC, reportedly allowed the president and his family to bypass federally required financial disclosures.

Campaign finance records show the Trump campaign and its committee at the Republican National Committee, spent $617 million from their $1.26bn coffers through the company, according to Business Insider.

Mr Kushner allegedly helped establish the company in 2018 and Mr Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump was installed as president, vice president Mike Pence’s nephew John Pence as vice president, and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman as treasurer and secretary.

Some of Mr Trump’s advisers said that they did not know how the shell company worked, and did not know of Lara Trump and John Pence’s involvement.


"They like to say they don't know, but that's not true," one person familiar with the company told Business Insider.

"What they wanted was excuses so they could blame other people. If they thought that, why did they keep using it?”

A spokesman for Mr Kushner and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

"Lara Trump and John Pence resigned from the AMMC board in October 2019 to focus solely on their campaign activities, however, there was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place. John and Lara were not compensated by AMMC for their service as board members," Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told Business Insider.

Mr Dollman declined to comment, according to the outlet.

The Federal Elections Committee can hand out fines to campaigns for any breaches of election law.