GRU hacked Kushner’s iPhone, but the Dutch flipped a Russian spy and took a look themselves
As one journalist put it, the story sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of Slow Horses – but it’s real.
Jared Kushner's iPhone was hacked by the GRU. By Cybernews / Shutterstock.
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- A new book claims Russian military intelligence broke into Jared Kushner’s personal iPhone in 2017.
- The book says Dutch intelligence flipped a Russian hacker and accessed images from Kushner’s phone screen.
- Author Matthew Cole alleges Kushner used Dubai-linked accounts tied to about $1.75 billion.
- Kushner denies the claims, and his lawyer says the accounts do not exist.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Dutch intelligence services learned that their Russian counterparts had broken into Jared Kushner's iPhone in 2017. So they flipped a GRU spy and got access to the device – and Kushner’s secret dealings in the Middle East – themselves. Donald Trump’s son-in-law denies the explosive claims.
The story of how Kushner was essentially double-owned by the Russians and the Dutch is laid out in a new book, Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East, by Matthew Cole, a renowned American investigative journalist.
Back in 2017, Kushner was in charge of Middle East peace negotiations and, more generally, held the post of Trump’s top advisor. Naturally, foreign intelligence services were very interested.
The clever counter-op
Cole claims in his book that the GRU, Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, managed to break into Kushner’s iPhone. This wasn’t difficult since he was allegedly using a personal cell phone instead of a secure government device.
The first Trump administration presumably had no idea. But, according to Cole, the Netherlands Defense Intelligence and Security Service, known as MIVD, did.
The Dutch learned in late 2018 that a Russian GRU hacker was heading to the United Kingdom on an espionage mission.
After securing agreement with the Brits, the Dutch agents confronted the hacker upon arrival and presented him with a choice – either work for us or go to prison in the UK. The Russian went for the first option, Cole writes.
Soon, the operative granted the MIVD access to a GRU server in Rostov, Russia, that contained images captured on Jared Kushner's iPhone.
Interestingly, the Dutch decided to keep this for themselves. Instead of contacting the US, their ally, the MIVD spies reverse-engineered the original method the GRU used to penetrate the phone’s security.
According to Cole, this gave them access to a continual image feed of the phone’s screen. There was no audio but, essentially, the Dutch could see Kushner’s screen whenever he used the phone – and they saved every image to their own servers.
The off-the-books money trail
When monitoring began in early 2018, the Dutch soon identified Kushner logging into a Dubai-based bank account that had received around $750 million.
Cole writes that the so-called Alpha account belonged to the United Arab Emirates-based (and government-funded) Watani Al Emarat Foundation, and was held at the First Abu Dhabi Bank. That bank is, in turn, chaired by the brother of UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed.
As per the published excerpt of Cole’s book, Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed managed the account as a slush fund “for off-the-books diplomatic objectives.”
There was reportedly another account. A source told Cole that Mohamed bin Zayed transferred around $1 billion to a separate Israeli Central Bank account – “for Kushner’s personal benefit.”
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All that money, adding up to roughly $1.75 billion, allegedly went through complex trails, including Azerbaijani banks.
The US Federal disclosure rules require Kushner, who is working alongside Special Envoy Steven Witkoff to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, to report any account in which he holds signatory access.
“Completely insane”
Kushner has already called the allegations “completely insane” and said on X that none of the events happened.
During the period in question, I was one of the most scrutinized people in the world, subjected to intense media coverage, multiple congressional investigations, and a special counsel investigation,Jared Kushner said.
“I voluntarily cooperated with these investigations, providing over 30 hours of testimony. None of these allegations ever surfaced because none of these events ever happened.”
Trump’s son-in-law also pointed out that Cole’s story has no statements, transfer records, account details, or dates to back the claims.
His attorney, Chad Mizelle, is also calling the central claim “categorically false” and said the accounts don’t exist. Kushner’s team says it intends to pursue legal action.
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However, as an American investigative journalist Kim Zetter has pointed out, if Kushner indeed sues Cole and his publisher for defamation, the discovery process would get very interesting.
“Kushner’s bank statements, money transfers, correspondence would all be subject to disclosure and he’d have to sit for a deposition,” said Zetter.
Dutch agencies limited intelligence-sharing ties with their US counterparts last year over human rights concerns.
