A major real estate investment by Jared Kushner in Albania faces strong opposition after prosecutors linked the land deal to an international cocaine trafficking investigation. The deal involves coastal land in Zvërnec owned by Artur Shehu, a 60-year-old property owner accused of participating in a European drug network and money laundering.
A company connected to Kushner purchased land from private owners, including Shehu. Prosecutors handling a money laundering case said the developer paid Shehu 110 million euros, or about 125 million dollars, in April. Albanian authorities requested Shehu's arrest shortly after, charging him with a leading role in the drug syndicate. Shehu denies all charges.
Land acquisition and resident warnings
Residents in Zvërnec warned Kushner's team as early as 2024 that the planned resort site was entangled in long-running court disputes. Local families claimed they lost their properties illegally and asked investors to stop the project. Wall Street Journal reported that residents were surprised two years ago by resort mockups presented by Kushner for a narrow peninsula between the sea and a lagoon frequented by flamingos.
Local families said their parents and grandparents cultivated potatoes, onions, and other crops on the peninsula. Shehu gained control of the land in the 2000s, triggering legal battles that have lasted nearly two decades. In September 2024, residents sent a letter to Kushner's firm asking investors to refrain from actions that undermine village property rights, stating the land belongs to the village.
The investment group proceeded with the development despite the warnings. A person familiar with the transactions said the group backed by Kushner paid more than 240 million dollars to private landowners in the area, including Shehu. Prosecutors said the proceeds from Shehu's sale have now been frozen.
Defense statements and legal claims
Kujtim Cakrani, the lawyer representing Shehu, rejected all criminal allegations. Cakrani said his client is neither a drug trafficker nor a land grabber and had no direct dealings with Kushner, acting instead through an intermediary. He added that Shehu comes from a family of large landowners and that his transactions were legitimate business activities.
Special prosecution authorities in Albania, known as SPAK, obtained a court order in June to arrest Shehu and 19 other individuals. The warrant followed extensive case files provided by law enforcement agencies in Spain, Belgium, and other European countries. Prosecutors allege Shehu held a leadership position in a structured criminal group and engaged in money laundering.
The indictment describes an operation spanning the entire cocaine supply chain. Members monitored production in Ecuador, concealed drug shipments inside cargo vessels containing fruit, soybeans, and sugar, and routed them through Dutch ports. The drugs were then processed in small laboratories before distribution across Europe.
Drug profit laundering and background
Albanian prosecutors said cocaine profits entered Albania through cryptocurrencies and cash transported on buses. The funds were allegedly laundered into real estate, including coastal villas and a red skyscraper in central Tirana. Authorities stated Shehu and his associates played a key role in laundering the money, while Cakrani maintained all property deals were legal.
Shehu currently resides in Miami, where real estate records show he and his wife, a former Albanian television celebrity, own a 4,000-square-foot home on Flamingo Way. He left Albania during a period of instability following the fall of communism in 1991, which saw organized crime, economic collapse, and a pyramid scheme crisis.
Former Albanian police officer Dritan Zagani said authorities monitored Shehu over suspected links to the Italian mafia, marijuana smuggling, and speedboat human trafficking to Italy. Zagani said police responded to a bar shooting in 1999 involving Shehu and a rival gang, after which Shehu disappeared. Cakrani countered that Shehu was attacked by pro-communist gangs due to his political views and said past police probes were politically motivated.
Past probes and European surveillance
Shehu moved to Miami in 2001 and received US asylum after stating communist gangs killed his uncle and brother. He later obtained US citizenship while continuing real estate operations in Albania. Italian authorities requested his arrest again in 2012 over links to an Italian crime family.
Italian court records showed Shehu co-owned an ice cream shop in Albania with an Italian mafia leader who transferred over 1 million euros, or about 1.3 million dollars, to him. Prosecutors also alleged Shehu leased space for a casino. An Italian judge rejected the arrest request due to insufficient evidence, and his lawyer said Shehu acted only as a landlord.
European law enforcement later tracked Shehu through surveillance in Monaco with suspected drug figures. Albanian prosecutors also acquired 2019 photos of Shehu meeting a top mafia figure in Mallorca who was later arrested. Shehu faced no charges in those cases, and Cakrani emphasized his client had no legal convictions in Europe outside Albania.
Land dispute history in Zvërnec
Zvërnec is a small coastal village outside Vlorë known for a 700-year-old Byzantine monastery on the Narta lagoon. Local resident Zoi Pula, 71, said his great-grandfather used the peninsula for livestock grazing. Pula's family farmed potatoes and onions on the land before receiving official title to their plot following the fall of communism in 1991.
Pula said residents were furious when local land offices transferred control of their properties to Shehu in the mid-2000s. Albania has faced complex land ownership disputes since 1991 due to overlapping claims, court backlogs, and corrupt land registry practices. Residents discovered Shehu used historical documents to claim an ancestor named Seit Shehu previously owned the area.
In a 2007 case, one of Shehu's lawyers submitted a translated Ottoman-era property deed to authorities. A court ruling later established that an archivist substituted the original owner's name with Seit Shehu during translation from Ottoman Turkish. The lawyer and archivist were convicted of forgery offenses, and Albania's Supreme Court ruled that the document was proven to be forged. Cakrani asserted that Shehu holds valid land documents dating back to the Italian occupation and the early 20th century.
Resort origins and corporate structure
Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump explored the region after yachting between Montenegro and Greece following Donald Trump's first presidential term. They visited Sazan island, a former military site near Vlorë. Ivanka Trump later described hiking and swimming to the island on a podcast in May, stating they were enchanted by the location.
Kushner reached an agreement with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to develop Sazan island. He partnered with American developer Asher Abehsera, who had previously worked with Kushner on Brooklyn office developments. Abehsera said the developers then expanded their plans to the uninhabited strip of land at Zvërnec, located five miles away.
Abehsera said the team partnered with the Kastrati group, an Albanian company that operates gas stations across the country. Kushner posted resort mockups on Instagram showing villas on Sazan and hotels along Zvërnec beaches. Kushner and Abehsera formed Sazan Real Estate Development and brought in the Al-Khayat family, a Qatari investment group Kushner met during the 2022 World Cup.
Clashes and the Flamingo Revolution
In April, Albania Land Development, owned by Sazan Real Estate Development, paid Shehu 110 million euros for the property. Shortly after, the developer placed razor wire fencing around the peninsula. Private security guards blocked local residents who gathered to protest, and one guard punched a resident in the neck before dragging him to the beach while police watched.
The investment group condemned the security guard's actions and blamed an unnamed contractor. Video of the assault went viral, sparking daily protests in Tirana with placards displaying images of Kushner, Donald Trump, and flamingos. The release of Shehu's indictment ignited broader demonstrations against corruption and development, dubbed the Flamingo Revolution, which continued for over two months.
Asher Abehsera, president of Sazan Real Estate, attempted to distance the firm from the dispute in June, stating he did not know if the company paid Shehu and denying knowledge of legal disputes over the land. The firm is currently completing an environmental assessment required for government approval.
Political backing and wider investments
Despite protests by tens of thousands of people, criticism from European Union officials, and opposition from singer Dua Lipa, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama supports the project. Rama described the 5 billion dollar development as a major foreign investment that will strengthen the economy. Zvërnec village head Kostak Konomi stated residents simply want their land returned.
The controversy follows setbacks for Kushner's international fund, a 6 billion dollar private equity venture supported by Gulf sovereign wealth funds. Kushner previously pursued a real estate project in Belgrade, Serbia, on government-owned land. That deal collapsed after public protests and the indictment of a Serbian minister who approved the project, leading Kushner to withdraw in December.
In Albania, financial transactions have already closed, with hundreds of millions of dollars distributed for land acquisition. The criminal charges against Shehu and ongoing public protests have made Zvërnec one of the most contentious investments linked to Kushner's firm.
