Did Jared Kushner get scammed over his Albanian resort?

2026-07-16

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It was a Bad Week for Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and you’re either the sort of person who is now rubbing their hands together cartoon-villain style, or… you’re probably not listening to this podcast. Construction is well underway for Kushner’s $4 billion Albanian holiday resort, but – in true Trumpian you-can’t-make-this-#$@!%-up fashion – it turns out the deeds for the land might be fake. There are *so many* zany details of this story, and we’re unpacking them all whilst having a little giggle at Kushner’s expense. Also in this episode: Have you ever wondered why you tend to drift to the left as you walk? Us neither, but it turns out: that westward wander is actually a natural human trait. We chat with researchers Iñaki Echeverría-Huarte and Claudio Feliciani about their offbeat discovery, which caught our attention when it appeared in the New York Times last month.

PATREON SHAKE-UP: Visit ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ to take a look at the exciting changes to what we’re offering our supporters, from a new private podcast feed to one-on-one meetings with Katy and Dominic. We also welcome donations via our website, which come with all the same benefits except for access to our community chat. A huge thank you to our supporters for making our independent journalism possible – and we’re thrilled that you’re becoming an even bigger part of what we do.

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the little-known sporting event Le Tour de France and the novel ‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon.

Our friends at the European Cultural Foundation have generously given us five copies of their beautiful magazine, Common Ground, for our listeners. Email us at hello@europeanspodcast.com with MAGAZINE GIVEAWAY in the subject line to be in with a chance of getting your hands on one. And if you don’t need to spruce up your coffee table, you can also read it online here.

Unsung: Cleaners is a documentary podcast bringing together the voices of cleaners across Europe, telling their stories in their own words. From invisible labour and night shifts to dignity and organising for change, the five-part series explores the human stories behind one of the world’s most essential – and most overlooked – jobs: cleaning. In the first episode, Hayat Elhore, a cleaner at the European Parliament in Brussels, shares what it’s like to clean a building that symbolises democracy – while often being treated as invisible. She pulls back the curtain on a typical day in the life of a cleaner.

Resources for this episode:

“Businessman who sold land for Kushner resort in Albania suspected of faking the deeds” – Reuters, 11 July 2026

“Slap on the SPF and join the Flamingo Revolution” – Good Week Bad Week, 5 June 2026

18,300 young people leave Albania in one year, the highest decline in Europe” – Euronews Albania, 4 February 2026

An Autocrat’s Guide to Destroying Local Media, our 2023 mini-series on press freedom in Central and Eastern Europe

“Individual locomotor bias drives counterclockwise motion in pedestrian crowds” – Nature, 10 June 2026

“Nearly Everyone, Everywhere, Veers Left When Walking” – New York Times, 10 June 2026

Our delightful interview with European rail expert Jon Worth

“The first EU pilot project for new cross-border services: from Praha to København with direct trains” – Railvolution, 26 June 2026

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.

Co-hosts: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Audio editing: Monika Proba, Wojciech Oleksiak, and Morgan Childs