Ex-Observer Editor and Kushner Pal Ken Kurson Arrested and Charged With Cyberstalking

Ken Kurson (right). Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images.

Ken Kurson, an ally of Jared Kushner and former editor of The New York Observer, was reportedly arrested and charged with cyberstalking on Friday.

The New York Times reported that Kurson — who was appointed editor of the salmon-pink tabloid by Kushner in 2013, and remained close to the real estate scion when he joined the White House — was charged in Brooklyn with crimes connected to his divorce.

According to the Times:

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Mr. Kurson of sending threatening and stalking messages to several people, including a friend whom he blamed for the deterioration of his marriage.

The F.B.I. has also gathered evidence that Mr. Kurson engaged in a similar pattern of harassment during his divorce proceedings in 2015, including installing software on someone’s computer to monitor keystrokes, the criminal complaint said. He also used aliases to contact that person’s employer to report false allegations of misconduct, according to the complaint.

Mr. Kurson’s lawyer, Marc L. Mukasey, said in a statement: “Ken Kurson is an honorable man, a loving dad and a gifted writer. The conduct alleged is hardly worthy of a federal criminal prosecution. Ken will get past it.”

Kurson’s tenure at the Observer was rocky. The paper endorsed Donald Trump for president while Kurson was advising his campaign, the Times notes. He nearly joined the Trump administration in 2018, to serve on the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities, until an FBI background check turned up allegations of sexual harassment.

Kurson withdrew from consideration for the post, and now works in the cryptocurrency industry.

In 2018, author Deborah Copaken accused Kurson of repeated harassment when she worked with him at the Observer.