A hedge-fund manager with ties to Jared Kushner has come to the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller for meetings he held with foreign officials and associates of then President-elect Donald Trump, according to NBC News. The exclusive report, which cites several unnamed sources, suggests Richard Gerson, the New York hedge-fund manager, is linked to businessman George Nader, who was responsible for setting up a secret meeting between Trump associate Erik Prince and officials from Russian and the United Arab Emirates. According to NBC News, Mr. Gerson was in the Seychelles in January of 2017, two weeks before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, when he met with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi. A few weeks prior, Mr. Gerson had allegedly attended a meeting in New York with the Crown Prince and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to the president; as well as Mr. Trump’s chief strategist adviser Steve Bannon. Mr. Gerson’s spokesperson declined to comment about his meeting with the Crown Prince, but told NBC News Mr. Gerson had no part in the meeting between Mr. Prince and officials from the UAE and Russia. “Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference. He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince,” the spokesman told NBC News. The spokesman also said Mr. Gerson, for his part, escorted British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the earlier meeting in New York. Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — A close friend of Jared Kushner has come under scrutiny by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his proximity to some key meetings between Trump associates and foreign officials, according to five people familiar with the matter. Richard Gerson, a hedge-fund manager in New York, was in the Seychelles in January 2017, less than two weeks before President Donald Trump's inauguration and around the time Trump associate Erik Prince secretly met with Russian and United Arab Emirates officials, including Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, four of the people said. While in the remote Indian Ocean island nation, Gerson met with Prince Mohammed — also known by his initials as MBZ — and communicated with a Lebanese-American businessman with close ties to the UAE, George Nader, who had organized the Erik Prince meeting, according to text messages Gerson sent at the time and a person familiar with the meeting. Gerson had met Nader just weeks earlier when Trump officials, including Kushner, gathered for a secret meeting with MBZ at a Four Seasons hotel in New York, four people familiar with the meeting said. Trump's incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn and chief political adviser Steve Bannon, as well as the UAE's ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Otaiba, also attended the meeting. Gerson's presence in the Seychelles and at the Four Seasons meeting has not been previously reported. Mueller's interest in Gerson is another sign that he is examining connections between the UAE and Trump associates. Counterintelligence investigators have been scrutinizing UAE influence in the Trump campaign since before Mueller was appointed as special counsel, and the probe has continued in coordination with Mueller's team, according to two people briefed on the investigation. A spokesman for Gerson declined to say why Gerson met with MBZ in the Seychelles or communicated with Nader while there. The spokesman emphasized that Gerson did not participate in the meeting Erik Prince attended with Russian and Emirati officials. "Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference. He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince," the spokesman said. The spokesman said Gerson's involvement in the December meeting at the Four Seasons in New York was limited to escorting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the meeting, so he could give the participants a presentation on Israeli-Palestinian peace. "Mr. Gerson attended the meeting in New York along with Mr. Blair to discuss this issue," the spokesman said, adding that Gerson has known Blair since Blair's time as an envoy for the Middle East Quartet, a diplomatic coalition comprised of the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After this article was published Friday morning, the spokesman sent an additional statement: "Your story today about Rick Gerson is completely wrong. Mr. Gerson is not under scrutiny or investigation by any agency including the Special Counsel's office. Your reporters have completely distorted the facts to suit their narrative making false and misleading suggestions." George Nader poses backstage with President Donald Trump at a Republican fundraiser in Dallas on Oct. 25, 2017. AP file Kushner has led the Trump administration's efforts on an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He has also come under scrutiny by Mueller and spent more than six hours speaking to investigators in April. The Senate Intelligence Committee also has looked into Gerson's presence at the Seychelles and other meetings related to the UAE, according to two officials briefed on the matter. Two people familiar with the meetings said they inferred that Gerson was there because of his connection to Kushner. One of them said UAE officials considered Gerson to be "Kushner's guy." Mueller is investigating whether the Seychelles meeting with Erik Prince was an effort to set up a backchannel between the incoming Trump administration and the Russian government. He's also looked into the Four Seasons meeting, which the Obama White House only later learned about because the UAE had broken protocol by not informing the outgoing administration that MBZ was in the U.S. Mueller's team has asked witnesses about Gerson's proximity to key meetings, according to three people familiar with the questioning. Gerson's spokesman declined to say whether Gerson has been personally contacted by Mueller. A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment, as did Otaiba and a lawyer for Nader. A lawyer for Jared Kushner did not respond to a request for comment on Gerson. A spokesman for Tony Blair also did not respond for a request for comment on the December 2016 meeting in New York. A spokesperson for Erik Prince declined to comment on Gerson and reiterated that Prince has said he was in the Seychelles solely to meet MBZ. Yousef Al Otaiba, United Arab Emirates' ambassador to the U.S., speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2017. Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images Gerson, who goes by Rick, founded Falcon Edge Capital, LP, of which he serves as chairman and chief investment officer. He has been friends with Kushner for more than a decade. Gerson had pursued business with the UAE prior to the 2016 election. A foreign intelligence official told NBC News that a flight manifest shows Gerson was on a plane to the Seychelles with other Americans a few days ahead of the Prince meeting. That meeting around Jan. 11, 2017 included MBZ; Nader; Prince, a security contractor who is a Trump confidant and the founder of the private security company once known as Blackwater; and Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who is close to Putin. On Jan. 10, 2017, Nader and Gerson exchanged messages on WhatsApp, according to three people familiar with the messages. In one message, Nader sent Gerson a photo of himself and MBZ that he said was taken in December 2016 while they were in Morocco, these people said.<doc-sep>Richard Gerson, a New York-based hedge-fund manager and close friend of senior White House aide Jared Kushner Jared Corey KushnerThe Israel-Hamas ceasefire is holding — what's next? Eric Trump buys .2M home near father's golf club in Florida CDC's about-face on masks appears politically motivated to help a struggling Biden MORE, is being scrutinized by special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE over his closeness to several meetings between foreign officials and Trump associates, according to an NBC News report. Gerson has drawn the eye of Mueller investigators due to his proximity to two meetings that top members of the Trump campaign had with United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials including Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, according to the report. ADVERTISEMENT Gerson was reportedly in Seychelles in January 2017, the same time that Trump adviser and brother to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Betsy DeVosDeVos ordered to testify in student loan forgiveness lawsuit Project Veritas surveilled government officials to expose anti-Trump sentiments: report Biden administration reversing Trump ban on pandemic aid for undocumented students MORE, Erik Prince, was in the country to secretly meet with al-Nahyan and other UAE officials. During that time, Gerson communicated with George Nader, the businessman who had set up Prince's meeting, as well as with al-Nahyan himself, according to NBC sources. Gerson had also met with Nader weeks earlier when Trump officials met with Nader and al-Nahyan at the New York Four Seasons hotel, where Kushner himself was also in attendance. A spokesperson for Gerson told NBC that Gerson knew nothing about the Seychelles meeting between Prince and al-Nahyan despite communicating with the meeting's organizer, and claimed that Gerson has no relationship with Prince. "Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference. He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince," the spokesperson told NBC. The spokesman added that Gerson attended The Four Seasons meeting alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who invited Gerson to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations with the officials. "Mr. Gerson attended the meeting in New York along with Mr. Blair to discuss this issue," the spokesman said. Mueller is looking into whether the Seychelles meeting between Prince and UAE officials served to set up a back channel between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to news reports. So far, the special counsel's investigation has spawned a number of charges, though none of them are yet related to Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI investigators, while former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortLegal intrigue swirls over ex-Trump exec Weisselberg: Five key points There was Trump-Russia collusion — and Trump pardoned the colluder Treasury: Manafort associate passed 'sensitive' campaign data to Russian intelligence MORE is battling charges of tax fraud and money laundering over his lobbying work for pro-Russian political groups in Ukraine.<doc-sep>Roberston, now retired, invests directly in other hedge funds primarily run by former employees of his own defunct hedge fund company. The practice and the companies it spawned would go on to be described as a “hedge fund dynasty,” with each of Johnson’s proteges earning the tongue-and-cheek moniker, Tiger Cub.<doc-sep>
The special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking into contact between UAE officials and Rick Gerson, a New York hedge fund manager and a close friend of White House senior adviser Jared Kushner. Gerson was reportedly in the Seychelles around the same time as a meeting previously reported as set up to establish a secret back-channel between Trump and Russia. Mueller's interest in Gerson contributes to his investigation into whether the UAE sought to influence White House policy in its favor. As the special counsel Robert Mueller investigates foreign influence on President Donald Trump's campaign and the White House, a new player has come under scrutiny. According to NBC News, Mueller is eyeing Rick Gerson, a New York hedge fund manager and a close friend of White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, as he investigates whether the UAE sought to influence White House policy in its favor. Gerson's significance in Mueller's probe stems from his presence at or proximity to several key meetings involving Trump associates. Gerson was in the Seychelles in early 2017, around the time that informal Trump adviser Erik Prince met with Emirati officials — including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, known as MBZ — and a Russian investor tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the island. It has been previously reported that the meeting was for the purpose of possibly setting up a secret backchannel between Trump and Russia. George Nader, a Middle East adviser who was at the meeting, is now cooperating with Mueller. While Gerson was not at the meeting, NBC News reported he met separately around that time with the crown prince and also communicated with Nader. His spokesman told NBC News Gerson was in the Seychelles, but was not involved with the meeting. "Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference," the spokesman told NBC. "He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince." Two people familiar with the meetings told NBC they assumed Gerson was there because of his connection to Kushner, with the UAE officials considering him to be "Kushner's guy." Sources detailed Gerson and Nader's communication over WhatsApp in early 2017 to NBC, where they agreed to meet in the Seychelles and discussed Gerson's relationship with Kushner. Gerson and Nader first met at a secret meeting with the crown prince at a New York Four Seasons hotel with other Trump officials, four people familiar with the meeting told NBC News. Kushner, UAE's ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba, Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon also attended the meeting. Gerson's spokesman declined to say whether he has been personally contacted by Mueller.