Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are renting their Washington, D.C., mansion from a Chilean billionaire who is suing the U.S. government over a Minnesota mine.
The house was bought for $5.5 million by a company controlled by Andrónico Luksic in late December, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
President Trump’s daughter and her husband, who is a top White House adviser, moved into the house around Inauguration Day.
The Obama administration had prohibited the Luksic family’s mining company, Antofagasta PLC, from building a giant copper-and-nickel mine near the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The company and some Minnesota lawmakers have called on the Trump administration to approve the mine.
Rodrigo Terré, a relative of Luksic, said the house in Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood was bought as an investment, and it was a coincidence that Trump and Kushner were renting the house.
He added that the duo is paying “absolute market value” in rent, but wouldn’t reveal how much. A White House spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal the family is paying “fair market value.”
Both parties said Luksic has not met the couple. The White House said Trump and Kushner were unaware of the Minnesota mine dispute when they agreed to rent the house.
