Mafia like Corruption was Just Found At Trump’s Board Of Peace

An investigation into President Trump’s self-styled global peace body found an empty official reconstruction account, money moving through a private JPMorgan account with little public oversight, lifetime personal control by Trump, and an inner circle of financiers whose other businesses sit uncomfortably close to the same region they now oversee.

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That is the picture drawn by a mid-August investigation from More Perfect Union, later echoed in congressional letters and earlier reporting from the Financial Times. The Board of Peace was sold as the vehicle that would rebuild Gaza and, later, manage conflicts worldwide. Nine months after its launch, critics say it looks more like a personalized slush fund than a transparent international institution.

From Gaza plan to personal chairmanship

The Board of Peace began as part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war. In November 2025 the UN Security Council endorsed a transitional body to oversee Gaza’s administration and reconstruction through 2027. What emerged after the charter was signed at Davos in January 2026 was something far larger and far more personalized.

The charter names Donald J. Trump inaugural chairman in his personal capacity. There is no fixed term. He selects the executive board, can veto its decisions, interprets the charter, and can issue directives on his own. He can remain chairman after leaving the White House. Member states get three-year terms unless they pay more than $1 billion in cash for a permanent seat. Palestinians have no meaningful decision-making power on the top boards. Israel was invited as a member state. The charter itself does not mention Gaza. Its stated mission is peace and governance “in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”

Trump has said the body “might” replace the United Nations. Most traditional U.S. allies in Europe declined to join. The membership that did form is heavy on Gulf states, other Middle Eastern partners, and governments eager for access to Trump.

The money that did not go where it was supposed to

Member states pledged billions. Trump announced a $10 billion U.S. commitment. Nine countries at the February inaugural meeting pledged about $7 billion. The World Bank set up a fund that was supposed to receive reconstruction money and pass it to the Board.

By late spring, that official fund still held zero dollars, according to people familiar with the accounts who spoke to the Financial Times. Donors instead sent money into a private JPMorgan account controlled by the Board. Morocco’s roughly $20 million helped pay for the high representative’s office and salaries. The UAE transferred about $100 million that was later frozen with a police-training program. Unlike the World Bank mechanism, the private account carries no independent reporting obligation to contributors or the public.

A Board official told reporters that multiple funding channels had been created and that contributors simply chose other options. The World Bank has said it is only a pass-through and takes no fiduciary responsibility once money leaves its account.

In August, House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory Meeks wrote Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding basic answers the State Department had not provided: Is the Board public or private? For-profit or nonprofit? Who controls the JPMorgan accounts and in which countries do they sit? Who audits them? What happens to the money after Trump leaves office? The State Department had tried to send $50 million in taxpayer funds; the transfer was rescinded after Congress asked questions the department could not answer.

The men on the inside

The founding executive board includes Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, World Bank president Ajay Banga, and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan.

Kushner’s post-White House firm, Affinity Partners, raised billions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE—the same governments now among the Board’s largest pledged donors. Affinity took the largest stake in Phoenix Financial, an Israeli insurer that covers infrastructure tied to settlement activity in the West Bank.More Perfect Union and other reporting treat this as a textbook conflict: the same envoy shaping “peace” and reconstruction also holds financial exposure to Israeli expansion and Gulf capital.

Rowan has been explicit about the real-estate opportunity. He described Gaza’s coastline as worth $50 billion “on a conservative basis,” housing stock more than $30 billion, infrastructure more than $30 billion—$115 billion “that just needs to be unlocked and financed.” Apollo has a standing arrangement with Phoenix for up to $2 billion in joint Israel investments. Kushner previously presented glossy renderings of a “New Gaza” of towers, hotels, and a Mediterranean Riviera. Those visions later contracted into a small pilot camp. Contractors have floated exclusive logistics deals with enormous markups.

The investigation also follows private security firms circling Gaza crossings and infrastructure protection—the same contractor model that followed U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, complete with new LLCs when one entity becomes politically toxic.

Immunity, stalling, and the larger pattern

Draft documents obtained earlier in 2026 showed the Board seeking sweeping legal immunity for its members, staff, contractors, and security forces in Gaza, including the right to use public property “free of charge.” Trump would hold the power to waive that immunity. Legal scholars called it an attempt to create a legal system unto itself.

On the ground, the project has moved slowly. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza has not been able to deploy. The planned International Stabilization Force has not materialized at scale. In late July the Board announced a “historic” roadmap for Hamas disarmament and phased Israeli withdrawal; implementation remains contested and incomplete. High Representative Nickolay Mladenov has warned the Security Council that a collapsing ceasefire would leave nothing left to rebuild.

Supporters call the Board a nimble alternative to a sclerotic UN. Trump allies praise deal-making and private-sector speed. The documented facts that remain hard to dismiss are narrower and more concrete: an official reconstruction account that sat empty while money moved through a private bank account; a charter that concentrates power in one man for life; an executive circle whose private investment vehicles overlap with the governments writing the checks and the territory slated for redevelopment; and still-unanswered questions from Congress about who actually controls the money.

That combination—personal control, opaque finance, and overlapping private interests—is what critics mean when they reach for the word “mafia.” Whether the comparison is fair is a matter of language. The structure and the unanswered questions are a matter of record.