https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/1/17053398/jared-kushner-scandals-russia-clearance-loans

But a family feud erupted over business and money, splitting Charles Kushner from his brother Murray and his sister Esther. Around the same time, a Kushner Companies bookkeeper filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging illegal political contributions by Charles and other improper financial practices from the company. As a result, the ambitious new US attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie, started investigating the Kushners.

Believing his relatives were behind all this, Charles did a truly remarkable thing in response: He arranged to pay a prostitute to seduce his sister Esther’s husband, had the ensuing sexual encounter taped and photographed, and sent the tape and photos to Esther. (He arranged for a second prostitute to try to seduce the whistleblowing bookkeeper too, but the guy turned her down.)

It all blew up in Charles’s face — the feds learned of everything, Charles was arrested, and after pleading guilty to tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering (for the tape), he was sent to jail in 2005.

What did Jared think about all this? Well, in a 2009 interview with Gabe Sherman of New York magazine, Jared stood squarely behind his father — defending Charles’s vicious actions in a revealing comment that prized family loyalty and business success above such petty matters as ethics and following the law.

“His siblings stole every piece of paper from his office, and they took it to the government,” Jared maintained. “Siblings that he literally made wealthy for doing nothing. He gave them interests in the business for nothing. All he did was put the tape together and send it. Was it the right thing to do? At the end of the day, it was a function of saying ‘You’re trying to make my life miserable? Well, I’m doing the same.’ ”

Though the scandal was embarrassing and the subject of enormous media attention, it didn’t keep either Kushner down for long. Charles was released after a year and returned to his company more ambitious than ever, newly setting his sights on New York City properties.

Jared, meanwhile, became the public face of Kushner Companies, spent a reported $10 million to buy a majority stake in the New York Observer newspaper, and began dating fellow real estate scion Ivanka Trump (whom he’d marry in 2009). Eventually, Ivanka would be Jared’s ticket to high-level jobs in Donald Trump’s campaign and White House.