Kushner friend arrested on cyberstalking charges

Ken Kurson, a close ally of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was arrested on Friday and charged with federal cyberstalking crimes related to his divorce. 

Kurson, also a longtime associate of Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, faces accusations of sending threatening and stalking messages to several people, including a friend whom he blamed for his marriage going south, according to The New York Times. 

The Times reported that the FBI has also acquired evidence reportedly showing that Kurson had displayed similar behavior during his 2015 divorce proceedings, including installing software on someone’s computer to monitor keystrokes and using aliases to make false misconduct allegations to the person’s employer. 

Kurson’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, said in a statement to the Times, “Ken Kurson is an honorable man, a loving dad and a gifted writer. The conduct alleged is hardly worthy of a federal criminal prosecution. Ken will get past it.”

The FBI first uncovered harassment allegations against Kurson during its routine background check after the Trump administration nominated Kurson for a seat on the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2018. 

In July of that year, the Times reported that Kurson was denied security clearance for the role after federal officials were made aware of claims that Kurson harassed a Mount Sinai doctor in 2015. 

Kurson told the Times that he withdrew his nomination in June over his inability to secure the clearance. His lawyer separately confirmed to the newspaper that both Kurson and the doctor were questioned about the alleged harassment.

Kurson told the Times in a statement in 2018 that he wished the doctor, a longtime friend of his and his ex-wife, “the best.”

“I wish her nothing but the best,” he said. “Of course when couples divorce, emotions run high. Thankfully everything worked out very well for my ex-wife and my kids, and I consider this chapter long-closed from three years ago.”

Kurson previously helped write a speech for Trump’s 2016 campaign and served as editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper The New York Observer.

Kurson also worked on Giuliani’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, and after leaving the Observer, he joined the board of directors of Ripple, a cryptocurrency company.

CORRECTION: Kushner no longer has an ownership stake in the Observer. An earlier version of this story included incorrect information.