Kushner's $1.4bn Albania resort hit by forged-deed probe as seller faces drug-trafficking charges

The investigation

Albania's Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) is examining whether property titles for a stretch of protected coastline earmarked for a Kushner-backed luxury resort were falsified, according to case files reviewed by Reuters. The files, running to 200 pages, name Artur Shehu, a Miami-based businessman, as the seller who transferred the land to Albania Land Development in April. Albania Land Development is the entity behind the Kushner-linked scheme.

Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funnelled proceeds from cocaine trafficking from South America into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money's origin. They have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126m) tied to the sale in a notary's account. The SPAK files were issued the same day the agency unveiled separate arrest warrants for 20 people accused of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

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, Shehu's lawyer, confirmed that Albanian prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for his client for money laundering linked to drug trafficking proceeds. He said Shehu fled to the United States and won asylum in 1998 after gang violence killed his brother and uncle, and that Shehu was untroubled by the warrant, arguing it was widely assumed in Albania that prosecutors answered to political and business interests.

Ownership dispute

Several residents of the village of Zvernec, near the project site, have been contesting Shehu's property rights in court for more than a decade. They presented Reuters with ownership titles and tax documents that they say prove they are the legitimate owners of the land. The SPAK files state that "there are reasonable suspicions, based on evidence, that the assets were acquired through the use of falsified documents."

Shehu's lawyer maintains that his client's family has held the land for more than a century, since Ottoman times. The developers told Reuters they considered the transaction to have been conducted legally. Reuters found no evidence that Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development, or other backers of the resort knew of any suspicions surrounding Shehu when the land changed hands. The SPAK files contain no allegation of wrongdoing against Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development, Albania Land Development, or other investors in the resort project.

The resort project

The Kushner-backed development is estimated at 1.4 billion euros ($1.4bn) and sits in the heart of a nature reserve in the Vjosa delta, one of Albania's most important wetlands. The plans call for luxury hotels, villas, marinas, and leisure infrastructure on the uninhabited island of Sazan (a former military base) and along the coast of Vlora.

Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have said the idea for the resort came to them after spotting the coastline from a yacht. He unveiled renderings of the project on social media in 2024.

Flamingo Revolution

Since late May, nightly protests have taken place in the capital Tirana against the construction of the resort in a protected natural area on the Adriatic coast. The region hosts crucial nesting and migratory stopover zones for flamingos, herons, and numerous other bird species, as well as sea turtles. The mass demonstrations have been dubbed the "Flamingo Revolution," with protesters adopting the flamingo as a symbol and rallying under the slogan "Albania is not for sale."

Albania is not for sale.

Environmental organisations fear the planned construction will cause irreversible damage to the fragile ecosystem. The protests, which initially focused on the resort project, have since broadened into wider expressions of discontent with alleged government corruption.

What comes next

The Albanian court has placed a preventive seizure on the 110 million euros paid for the land, meaning Shehu cannot access the funds for now. A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice declined to comment on whether it had received any request from Albania to locate or detain Shehu in Miami. The developers continue to maintain the transaction was legal.