A Miami-based businessman wanted in Albania for allegedly laundering drug money is suspected of faking the deeds to land where Jared Kushner wants to build a multi-billion-dollar resort, the country’s organised crime-fighting agency said in case files reviewed by Reuters.
The businessman, Artur Shehu, denies all accusations against him, said his lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, who confirmed that Albanian prosecutors had issued a warrant seeking Shehu’s arrest for laundering money for drug gangs.
The case files accuse Shehu and associates of trafficking South American cocaine into European ports, and laundering the funds by using them to establish a real estate empire, including with falsified land-ownership documents.
“Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr. Artur Shehu’s character is true. He is neither a drug trafficker nor a forger of property documents,” Cakrani said.
“Mr Shehu is aware of the allegations made by the Albanian prosecution. These allegations do not concern him because he maintains that the truth is entirely different from what the prosecution claims.”
