NBC News reports Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating hedge fund manager Rick Gerson, a close friend of Jared Kushner, because of his travel to the Seychelles around the same time key meetings were taking place between Trump allies and foreign nationals.
Richard Gerson, a hedge-fund manager in New York, was in the Seychelles in January 2017, less than two weeks before President Donald Trump's inauguration and around the time Trump associate Erik Prince secretly met with Russian and United Arab Emirates officials, including Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi ...
While in the remote Indian Ocean island nation, Gerson met with Prince Mohammed — also known by his initials as MBZ — and communicated with a Lebanese-American businessman with close ties to the UAE, George Nader, who had organized the Erik Prince meeting, according to text messages Gerson sent at the time and a person familiar with the meeting.
Gerson had met Nader just weeks earlier when Trump officials, including Kushner, gathered for a secret meeting with MBZ at a Four Seasons hotel in New York, four people familiar with the meeting said. Trump's incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn and chief political adviser Steve Bannon, as well as the UAE's ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Otaiba, also attended the meeting.
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Mueller's interest in Gerson is another sign that he is examining connections between the UAE and Trump associates. Counterintelligence investigators have been scrutinizing UAE influence in the Trump campaign since before Mueller was appointed as special counsel, and the probe has continued in coordination with Mueller's team ...
A spokesman for Gerson says he did not participate in the meeting Erik Prince had with Russian banker.
"Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference. He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince," the spokesman said.
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The spokesman said Gerson's involvement in the December meeting at the Four Seasons in New York was limited to escorting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the meeting, so he could give the participants a presentation on Israeli-Palestinian peace.
On Friday morning, after NBC News published this story, Gerson's spokesman reached out to deny it entirely.
"Your story today about Rick Gerson is completely wrong. Mr. Gerson is not under scrutiny or investigation by any agency including the Special Counsel's office. Your reporters have completely distorted the facts to suit their narrative making false and misleading suggestions."
However, the special counsel's team is not alone in looking into Gerson's January 2017 travel.
The Senate Intelligence Committee also has looked into Gerson's presence at the Seychelles and other meetings related to the UAE, according to two officials briefed on the matter.
Two people familiar with the meetings said they inferred that Gerson was there because of his connection to Kushner. One of them said UAE officials considered Gerson to be "Kushner's guy."
NBC News reports Kushner and Gerson have been friends for more than a decade.
Gerson and Nader's relationship expanded after Trump's inauguration, when they began discussing business and policy, these people said.
Mueller's team has also asked questions about a meeting Gerson attended with Kushner and Bannon in New York in early 2017, according to the New York Times.
Read more: Jared Kushner close friend Rick Gerson now under scrutiny from Mueller (NBC News)