Charles Kushner is a distinguished American real estate developer, diplomat, and formerly licensed attorney, currently serving as the U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco since 2025.
He was born on May 16, 1954, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, stands as a towering figure in American real estate, philanthropy, and now diplomacy—a man whose life story weaves together triumph, scandal, redemption, and unyielding family loyalty.
As the patriarch of the Kushner dynasty and father to Jared Kushner, the influential advisor and son-in-law to former President Donald Trump, Charles has long operated in the shadows of power, his decisions rippling through boardrooms, courtrooms, and the highest echelons of government. At 71 years old in 2025, he serves as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco, a role that caps a improbable journey from a convicted felon to a confirmed diplomat. His narrative is one of immigrant grit, bold ambition, ethical lapses, and a post-prison resurgence that underscores the resilience of the American Dream, albeit one laced with controversy.
Net Worth of Charles Kushner
Charles Kushner's financial prowess is the cornerstone of his identity, transforming a modest inheritance into a multibillion-dollar empire that has elevated his family to the upper strata of American wealth. As of October 2025, Forbes estimates the Kushner family's collective net worth at $7.1 billion, a staggering increase from $1.8 billion in 2016, driven largely by the appreciation of real estate holdings and savvy investments by his sons. Charles and his wife, Seryl, personally hold a 20% stake in Kushner Companies, valued at approximately $580 million based on the firm's $2.9 billion market capitalization—a figure that reflects diversification into multifamily housing, office spaces, and industrial properties across the Northeast and beyond. While individual attributions are opaque due to family trusts, Charles's personal fortune is conservatively pegged at around $850 million, encompassing equity in the company, personal properties, and philanthropic vehicles that double as tax strategies.
The Kushner Companies, founded by Charles in 1985 following his father Joseph's death, began as a vehicle to consolidate the elder Kushner's portfolio of 4,000 apartments in New Jersey. Under Charles's leadership, it expanded aggressively, acquiring commercial towers in Manhattan and venturing into Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Florida. By the early 2000s, the firm boasted over 25,000 multifamily units and 13 million square feet of commercial space, generating steady rental income amid New Jersey's suburban boom. A pivotal acquisition was the $1.8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007, orchestrated by son Jared, which—despite near-default during the 2008 financial crisis—yielded long-term gains after a 2018 refinancing with Brookfield Properties. Post-prison, Charles pivoted the company toward stable multifamily developments in emerging markets, insulating it from office sector volatility and contributing to the family's wealth surge.
Philanthropy has intertwined with his finances, often amplifying his influence while optimizing taxes. The Charles and Seryl Kushner Charitable Foundation has funneled millions into Jewish causes, medical centers, and education, including a $20 million gift that renamed Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center campus after the couple. Yet, these efforts were scrutinized during his legal troubles, with prosecutors alleging he claimed over $1 million in charitable donations as business expenses, leading to tax evasion charges. The 2020 pardon erased those convictions, allowing Charles to resume full involvement in the firm, where he now advises alongside sons Jared and Joshua. Joshua's Thrive Capital, valued at billions through stakes in companies like Oscar Health, and Jared's Affinity Partners, which raised $4.6 billion from Gulf funds, further bolster the family's coffers—though Charles's direct hand in these ventures remains advisory. In 2025, as ambassador, his net worth benefits from diplomatic perks and continued equity growth, positioning him not just as a survivor of scandal but as a enduring architect of prosperity. This financial fortress, built on calculated risks and familial synergy, exemplifies how Charles Kushner turned adversity into affluence.
Ethnicity of Charles Kushner
Charles Kushner's ethnic identity is profoundly rooted in the Ashkenazi Jewish experience of Eastern European endurance, a legacy of loss and rebirth that permeates his personal ethos and public actions. Born Chanan Kushner—named for a maternal uncle murdered in a Nazi concentration camp—he is the son of Joseph "Yossel" Berkowitz (later Kushner) and Rae Kushner, Polish-born Jews who survived the Holocaust's horrors in Navahrudak, now Belarus. His parents' origins trace to the shtetls of what was then eastern Poland under Soviet influence, where Yiddish-speaking communities thrived until the 1941 German invasion decimated them. Over 50,000 Jews from the region perished, but Joseph and Rae escaped through partisan networks in the forests, a tale immortalized in the 2008 film Defiance starring Daniel Craig, which drew from their real-life defiance. Fleeing via Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Italy, they arrived in New York in 1949 with infant daughter Linda and scant resources, embodying the "Builders"—Holocaust survivors who rebuilt tight-knit communities in America's suburbs.
Raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Charles grew up immersed in Modern Orthodox Judaism, attending yeshivas and absorbing his parents' emphasis on tzedakah (charity) and klal Yisrael (Jewish peoplehood). Joseph's transformation from furrier to real estate developer—starting with modest apartment builds in the 1950s—instilled a work ethic born of necessity, while Rae's quiet strength, having tunneled from the Novogrudok ghetto, shaped family rituals around remembrance and resilience. The surname Kushner, from the Belorussian "kushner" meaning furrier, reflects an occupational Ashkenazi heritage, but Charles adopted it fully as a badge of survival. His siblings—brother Murray and sister Esther—shared this upbringing, though familial rifts later tested those bonds.
This heritage profoundly influenced Charles's life choices. He funded the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey, institutions that educated his children and reinforced Orthodox values like Shabbat observance and kosher living. Initially wary of son Jared's relationship with Ivanka Trump, a non-Jew, Charles and Seryl insisted on her 2009 conversion to Orthodox Judaism, echoing their commitment to continuity amid historical threats. Philanthropy became his outlet for ethnic pride: donations to Touro College, Stern College for Women, and the Rabbinical College of America, plus board seats at United Jewish Communities, reflect a drive to honor his parents' legacy. In August 2025, as ambassador, he penned an open letter decrying rising antisemitism in France and the government's perceived inaction, prompting a diplomatic summons he ignored—a bold invocation of his family's Holocaust memory in service of advocacy. Charles Kushner's ethnicity is no mere backdrop; it is the unyielding force that propelled him from immigrant progeny to global advocate, blending pain with purpose in the diaspora.
Family Life of Charles Kushner
At the heart of Charles Kushner's world is Seryl Stadtmauer Kushner, his wife of over five decades, whose steadfast partnership has anchored him through prosperity and peril. Born in 1961 to a prominent Jewish family in New Jersey—her father Morris Stadtmauer descended from Polish immigrants—Seryl met Charles in their youth, marrying in the early 1970s and building a life steeped in Orthodox tradition and familial devotion. A philanthropist in her own right, Seryl co-chairs the Kushner Foundation, channeling resources into women's health (e.g., the Seryl and Charles Kushner Maternity Unit at St. Barnabas Medical Center) and Jewish education, often serving as the quiet force behind Charles's public endeavors. Their Long Branch seaside mansion has hosted fundraisers for both Democrats and Republicans, symbolizing a home where business, faith, and family converge.
Together, they raised four children—Jared, Joshua, Nicole, and Dara—in Livingston's Orthodox enclave, instilling values of education, piety, and enterprise. Jared, born in 1981, assumed CEO of Kushner Companies at 24 after Charles's imprisonment, navigating the firm through crisis while forging his path to the White House. Joshua, a Harvard graduate, founded Thrive Capital in 2010, amassing a $5.2 billion fortune through investments in Instagram and Spotify; his 2018 marriage to supermodel Karlie Kloss blended glamour with the family's insular world. Nicole, the poised middle child, joined the family business post-Yale Law, focusing on legal and operational roles, while Dara maintains a lower profile, pursuing private interests away from the spotlight. With 14 grandchildren, including Jared and Ivanka's trio—Arabella, Joseph, and Theodore—the Kushners gather for Passover seders and holidays at Mar-a-Lago, a ritual that healed early tensions over Ivanka's integration.
Family life, however, bore scars from Charles's scandals. The 2005 case fractured ties with brother Murray, who sued over business disputes and cooperated with prosecutors, and sister Esther, whose husband William McDonald was the target of Charles's infamous extortion scheme. Seryl stood resolute, visiting Charles during his 16-month stint at Federal Prison Camp Montgomery in Alabama and rallying the children to sustain the company. Post-release in 2006, she helped orchestrate his reintegration, hiring fellow inmates he met behind bars and emphasizing family unity. The 2020 pardon, followed by the 2025 ambassadorship swearing-in attended by Ivanka, Jared, and grandchildren, marked redemptions; Seryl's presence at the White House ceremony underscored her role as the family's emotional core. In 2025, as Charles navigates Paris diplomacy, Seryl divides time between New Jersey and France, hosting family amid Élysée dinners—a testament to a marriage that weathered felony indictments and emerged fortified, proving that for the Kushners, blood ties transcend betrayal.
Political Career of Charles Kushner
Charles Kushner's political trajectory is a chameleon's arc, evolving from New Jersey kingmaker to Republican loyalist, culminating in his 2025 confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to France—a post that fuses his deal-making savvy with lingering controversies. In the 1990s, as a Democratic powerhouse, he funneled illegal contributions—often under partners' names—to allies like Governor Jim McGreevey, earning a seat on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board and a near-chairmanship. Hosting Benjamin Netanyahu and donating to Clinton campaigns, Charles wielded influence through the Kushner Companies' clout, but this web unraveled in 2004 when federal probes exposed tax evasion and witness tampering, leading to his guilty plea on 18 counts and disbarment in three states.
Prison humbled but did not deter him; released in 2006, Charles pivoted to philanthropy, burnishing an image that caught Trump's eye. Initially rivals—competing for New York properties—the Kushners warmed to the Trumps via Jared's 2009 marriage to Ivanka. By 2015, Charles donated $100,000 to Trump's Make America Great Again PAC and hosted a 2016 fundraiser at his Jersey Shore home, shifting $250,000 in family contributions Republicanward. The 2020 pardon, one of Trump's final acts, cited Charles's "reformed record" and charity, erasing felonies amid a clemency spree that included Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. Prosecutor Chris Christie, who deemed the case "loathsome," decried it as favoritism, but the wipe slate enabled Charles's resurgence.
In November 2024, President-elect Trump nominated him for France, praising his "business leadership, philanthropy, & dealmaker" prowess; a $1 million donation to Trump's super PAC preceded it. Senate confirmation on May 19, 2025, passed 51-45, with New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker—the sole opposing party's yes—as the lone Democratic vote, a nod to their "special friendship." Sworn in June 18 by Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio, with family in attendance, Charles vowed to balance U.S.-French economic ties and urge European defense spending. His tenure, concurrent for Monaco, has stirred debate: in August 2025, his letter on French antisemitism drew rebuke from the Quai d'Orsay, which he snubbed, echoing his unapologetic style. Critics like Tina Smith decry a "billionaire felon" in diplomacy, but allies like Bill Hagerty hail his judgment honed by "past mistakes." From backroom donor to Parisian envoy, Charles's career embodies Trump's ethos: loyalty redeems, and scandals are stepping stones.