Land sold for Kushner-backed Albania resort suspected of forged deeds
Albanian prosecutors are investigating whether deeds for a Jared Kushner-backed resort were forged, freezing around 110 million euros. The project has sparked protests.
Albania’s anti-corruption prosecution service, SPAK, is investigating whether the deeds to a stretch of protected coastline earmarked for a Jared Kushner-backed resort were forged, according to case files reviewed by Reuters. The files name Artur Shehu, a Miami-based businessman, as the seller who transferred the land to Albania Land Development, the entity behind the Kushner-linked scheme, in April.
Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funneled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money’s origin. They have frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126 million) tied to the sale in a notary’s account.
Shehu’s lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, rejected the allegations outright, saying his client owned the land legally since Ottoman times and was not a trafficker or forger. Cakrani added that his client was unfazed by an arrest warrant, believing Albanian prosecutors act on political and business interests. Shehu fled to the United States in 1998 and won asylum after his brother and uncle were killed by gang violence.
The SPAK files, running to 200 pages and previously unpublished, were released the same day the agency issued separate arrest warrants for 20 people accused of narcotics trafficking and money laundering. Reuters found no evidence that Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development or other backers knew of any suspicions when the land changed hands.
The disclosure comes amid sustained unrest over the development, which sits on wetlands and beaches along Albania’s southern coast home to sea turtles and flamingos. Nightly rallies began in May, initially focused on the project, but have broadened to demand Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over corruption allegations. A crackdown last week saw riot police use tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators outside parliament, injuring 15 officers and leading to 25 arrests. A Tirana court freed 19 of those detained on Sunday, placing two under house arrest and ordering others to report to judicial police.
Villagers near the site have pursued a decade-long legal challenge to Shehu’s ownership. Nikolin Markpalaj, one of the landowners, told Al Jazeera: “I told them it would not be easy for them to take this land and enjoy someone else’s property. What is happening in this country is madness.” Rama’s government dismisses the protests as orchestrated by political rivals and insists the project complies with Albanian and EU law.
