A Dutch intelligence operation, carried out after a Russian GRU operative switched sides, uncovered screenshots of Jared Kushner's iPhone X stored on a server in Rostov, Russia. The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD then reverse engineered a vulnerability in the phone, which Apple had promoted with its Face ID feature. The exploit did not allow full control, but it let the Dutch see Kushner's screen whenever he used the device, and their captures were filed on internal servers.
While monitoring the phone, the MIVD found that Kushner logged in to a UAE bank account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. Initially, analysts believed the account was linked to the Azerbaijani government. For the hackers, the transfers became an intelligence puzzle that sat apart from the Russian conspiracy they were otherwise investigating.
The article says Kushner, UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ) and Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia came together at a key moment. MBS wanted to become crown prince, MBZ wanted to undo Obama's Iran nuclear deal, and Kushner sought a deal between the Palestinians and Israel. Kushner's family business, Kushner Companies, also faced a $1 billion loan coming due on its 666 Fifth Avenue office building in Manhattan.
Early in the Trump administration, the two Arab royals proposed a slush fund to support its foreign policy goals, including funding a border wall, and discussed putting more than $10 billion into it with Kushner. The broader plan faded within months as MBZ pushed the administration to back MBS's bid for the Saudi throne, leaving the two royals to pursue their own interests.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing