Title Fraud Investigation Poses New Hurdle for Kushner’s Planned Albanian Resort

Jared Kushner’s Albanian resort project, already the object of nightly protests that are rattling that nation’s government, has encountered a new obstacle with reports that the businessman who sold part of the land designated for the resort may have faked the deeds to the property.Reuters reported Saturday that case files reviewed by the news agency include comments by prosecutors who cite “reasonable suspicions … based on evidence” that assets including a strip of pristine coastline selected for the project “were acquired through the use of forged documents.”The case files concern a wider investigation by Albania’s organized crime-fighting agency into a Miami-based businessman, Artur Shehu, who is suspected of working with associates to traffick South American cocaine into Europe and of laundering the funds through real estate dealings.A lawyer for Mr. Shehu, Kujtim Cakrani, acknowledged that his client is aware of the investigation but denied any wrongdoing.“Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr. Artur Shehu’s character is true. He is neither a drug trafficker nor a forger of property documents,” Mr. Cakrani told Reuters. “Mr. Shehu is aware of the allegations made by the Albanian prosecution. These allegations do not concern him because he maintains that the truth is entirely different from what the prosecution claims.”There is no suggestion that Mr. Kushner, or his investment firm, Affinity Partners, was aware of the suspicions about the land’s ownership when it began negotiating to build a $5.4 billion resort on properties including the land sold by Mr. Shehu to Albania Land Development LLC — a Qatari-owned company linked to the investors, including President Trump’s son-in-law. Another part of the property is owned by the Albanian government.However, Reuters reports that residents of a village near the site, Zvernec, have been challenging Mr. Shehu’s claim to the land in court for more than 10 years. The agency said residents showed its reporters title deeds and tax records backing their claims to be the rightful owners of the land.Their lawyer, Kostandin Beko, told Reuters the case is still open and they plan to seek a court order to halt the resort project, which would encompass luxury villas, high-end hotel suites, dedicated wellness amenities, and extensive commercial spaces along some of Europe’s last undeveloped Mediterranean coastline.Concerns about the project’s impact on nature preserves on the two sites earmarked for the project — a beachfront strip and an adjacent island — have inspired weeks of protests in the Albanian capital, Tirana, in a movement that has been nicknamed the “Flamingo Revolution” because of the thousands of pink-feathered birds that nest on or pass through the area.Crowds have been estimated as high as 250,000 people during some of the protests, originally motivated by the government’s decision to relax some of its environmental protections to facilitate the resort development. The protests have broadened to include demands for the resignation of the prime minister, Edi Rama, and the formation of a new government.Mr. Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, has said that she and Mr. Kushner first came up with the idea of developing a resort on the site after viewing it during a yachting trip several years ago. The area is admired for its undeveloped forests, beaches, and wetlands, home to wildlife including the flamingos and sea turtles.

Title Fraud Investigation Poses New Hurdle for Kushner’s Planned Albanian Resort

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