Source alleges Dutch government hacked Jared Kushner’s phone

Matthew Cole alleges that the Netherlands Defense Intelligence and Security Service accessed Jared Kushner’s iPhone after finding a vulnerability in the device. In an excerpt from his book, Cole says the MIVD had identified the vulnerability by early 2018, giving the Dutch intelligence service access to the phone.

Vanity Fair published the excerpt, while The Deep Dive summarized its account of the intelligence operation. Cole says a source he considered reliable contacted him in late spring 2020 with the story. His excerpt describes Kushner using an iPhone X and says the flaw enabled the MIVD to view and capture images displayed on the screen as he used the device.

The excerpt presents this as Cole’s account of what Dutch intelligence discovered and did; it does not offer a public statement from the MIVD. The Deep Dive supplies related operational context from Cole’s account: in late 2017, a GRU operative who handled stolen banking records was heading to the United Kingdom, where Dutch intelligence officers confronted him.

The same outlet says Cole placed the MIVD’s discovery of its own iPhone vulnerability by early 2018. This chronology places the reported phone access after that separate intelligence encounter, but it does not independently verify either account. Cole’s excerpt also links the phone story to Kushner’s financial relationships in the Gulf.

According to the source Cole recounts, an account based in Dubai held hundreds of millions of dollars originating from a bank in Azerbaijan. That source alleged Kushner moved significant sums from the account to a warlord, a mercenary and a former hit man. Cole adds that another acquaintance later said he knew about Kushner and transfers from a UAE account.

The excerpt describes Kushner Companies as facing a billion-dollar loan due on its Manhattan office building at 666 Fifth Avenue. It says discussions with Gulf royals initially involved more than $10 billion, while Mohamed bin Zayed alone put at least $2 billion into at least two Kushner accounts.

Cole identifies one account at First Abu Dhabi Bank and says it was overseen by Tahnoon bin Zayed, the bank’s chairman. Vanity Fair frames the excerpt as an examination of bank accounts connecting Kushner to Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Kushner rejected the allegations in a statement reported by Gizmodo, calling them “completely insane and never happened” and “outrageous fabrications.” He also characterized the reporting as a mixture of fantasy, fiction and advocacy. Gizmodo reported that his counsel had threatened a lawsuit; that account does not establish that a case was filed.

The outlets emphasize different parts of Cole’s account: Daily Kos foregrounds the alleged account and transfers, The Deep Dive highlights the GRU operative and the Dutch officers’ encounter, and Vanity Fair presents the material through Kushner’s Gulf-linked finances. Gizmodo centers Kushner’s denial and the threatened legal action.

The reported operation and financial allegations therefore remain claims attributed to Cole and his sources, alongside Kushner’s denial.