A luxury resort project organised by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on Albania’s pristine coast has been struck by a major legal and political crisis after Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors froze the bank accounts of Albania Land Development, a landholding company owned by Qatari entrepreneurs Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat.
The company is tied to the controversial Zvërnec coastal development, where Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, is planning a luxury resort project in partnership with foreign investors. The project has been presented by the Albanian government as a major step forward for high-end tourism, but it has quickly become a symbol of how public land, protected nature and political power are being fused into another corrupt real-estate bonanza.
The legal action by Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime follows an investigation into allegedly fraudulent property titles connected to land in the Zvërnec area. The land in question concerns one of the most sensitive coastal areas in Albania: the Pishë-Poro-Nartë protected area, part of the wider Vjosa-Narta landscape near Vlora.
This is not some ordinary stretch of land waiting to be developed. The area is one of Albania’s most important coastal ecosystems, home to flamingos, Dalmatian pelicans, nesting sea turtles and other protected species. Environmental groups have warned that the works are already damaging dunes, pine forests and the fragile wetland system.
Thousands of Albanians have protested against the project, denouncing both the environmental destruction and the corruption surrounding the transfer of land into private hands. Protesters have marched in Tirana under slogans such as “Albania is not for sale”, while anger has also spread to local residents who say they have been blocked from accessing land and coastline.
The controversy escalated further after footage emerged showing private security guards clashing with protesters at the site. Albanian police later opened an internal investigation, while one private security employee was arrested. The incident also triggered diplomatic tension with Greece after a Greek citizen was reportedly injured during the clashes.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has defended the project, claiming it will push Albania into the “Champions League” of global tourism. Rama has insisted that foreign investors should not be blocked, while accepting that the investigation into suspicious land ownership should continue.
The European Commission has also raised concerns, warning that Albania must respect environmental and rule-of-law standards as part of its EU accession process. The controversy now risks becoming another obstacle in Albania’s already fragile path towards European integration.
The resort is part of a wider international real-estate push by the Trump family and its circle. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have been involved in promoting luxury development projects in Albania, including the Zvërnec coastline and Sazan Island. Other Trump-branded or Trump-linked projects have also been pursued in places such as Georgia and Indonesia.
The Trump family and its allies are using political access, friendly governments and weak institutions to build luxury real-estate projects in countries where land rights, environmental rules and public accountability can be bent to suit the investor. In Albania, this model has now been met with fiercer resistance.
Newsroom
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