Money Grab/Give government contracts to family and donors
Serbia approves a Kushner-backed Trump hotel and vows to go on after a forgery arrest; the deal collapses seven months later
Serbia’s government approved a free 99-year lease for a roughly $500 million Trump-branded hotel backed by Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners in May 2024. After a May 2025 forgery arrest, President Vucic said the project would go ahead. On December 15, 2025, Serbian prosecutors charged the culture minister and three officials, and Affinity withdrew.
What happened
In May 2024, Serbia’s government approved a contract giving Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners a free 99-year lease on the former Yugoslav Army General Staff complex in Belgrade. NATO bombed the complex in 1999 and left it in ruins. The lease is for a roughly $500 million Trump-branded hotel and residential complex, with the government to receive about 22% of profits. Emirati developer Mohamed Alabbar’s Eagle Hills joined as partner, and in January 2025 the Trump Organization signed on to brand the hotel.
In mid-May 2025, organized-crime prosecutors arrested Goran Vasic, acting director of the institute that protects cultural monuments, on suspicion of forging the expert opinion used to strip the site’s protected status. He reportedly admitted it. On May 16, 2025, President Aleksandar Vucic told Bloomberg there had been “no falsification” and that the project would go ahead.
In November 2025 parliament passed a special law, 130 to 40, allowing demolition on the site. Opposition deputies challenged it in the Constitutional Court. Kushner was acting as an informal Middle East envoy for the administration throughout.
On December 15, 2025, prosecutors charged Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic and three officials with forgery and abuse of office, and Affinity Partners withdrew. President Vucic said the project was dead. The deal collapsed seven months after his May 16 vow.
Who benefited
Jared Kushner and Affinity Partners held a free 99-year lease on prime land in a European capital, and the Trump brand was attached to the hotel. The approvals and the special law came from a foreign government while Kushner worked for the president.
Who wanted something
The Serbian government under Vucic approved the lease, defended the project after the forgery arrest, and passed a law to push it through. The record does not say what Serbia sought in return. Vucic has said he was not trying to influence Trump.
Who lost out
Serbia’s public lost a protected national landmark, which was stripped of its status on a document prosecutors say was forged. Officials resigned rather than endorse the change, and students protested at the site. No U.S. public money is in this record.
Why it matters
A foreign government gave a free lease and then a special law to a project enriching the president’s son-in-law while he represented the United States abroad. It kept going after its own prosecutors found forgery in the paperwork. Seven months after Vucic’s vow, the officials were charged and the deal collapsed.
Sources The New York TimesBloombergRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Serbian)bne IntelliNews