Ken Kurson, pal of Jared Kushner, charged with cyberstalking
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A close friend of Jared Kushner who ran the New York Observer was charged Friday with creepy cyberstalking in 2015 as his marriage fell apart.
Ken Kurson, 52, stalked and harassed three victims he apparently held responsible for his divorce, according to a criminal complaint in Brooklyn Federal Court. Kurson allegedly wrote negative online reviews of some of his victims using aliases and visited their places of work, prosecutors said. He also took photographs of two his victims' workplaces and inquired about one’s work schedule, creeping out coworkers, prosecutors said.
Kushner appointed Kurson editor-in-chief of the Observer in 2013. Kurson resigned in 2017, after the paper had endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump for president. Kushner, now one of the most influential advisors in President Trump’s White House, sold his stake in the newspaper to a family trust.
“Kurson is alleged to have engaged in a disturbing pattern of retaliatory harassment that intimidated and alarmed several victims and their employer,” Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said.
Kurson’s downfall began in 2018 when he underwent an FBI background check while being considered for an appointment to an “independent federal agency,” the complaint states. The New York Times reported in 2018 that he was being considered for a seat on the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Kurson claimed on paperwork he’d never used any false aliases. But when the FBI began digging, they uncovered Kurson’s harassment campaigns using the names “Jayden Wagner” and “Eddie Train,” according to the complaint.
Kurson, of Maplewood, N.J., also worked as a speechwriter for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and wrote a speech for Trump while he was on the 2016 campaign trail. More recently, Kurson founded a cryptocurrency news site.
“Ken Kurson is an honorable man, a loving dad, and a brilliant writer. This case is hardly the stuff of a federal criminal prosecution. He will get past it,” attorney Marc Mukasey said.
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