Former employee sues real estate mogul Kushner

By Ilaina Jonas

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A former employee of Charles Kushner has sued the real estate mogul, his son, companies and the family's New York Observer newspaper, saying he is owed up to $4.48 million for work he did in 2007 pertaining to the $1.8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Ave in New York City.

Kevin Swill, former president of Kushner's Westminster Capital, filed the lawsuit last week in New Jersey.

The lawsuit said Swill was paid $750,000 for his work on the deal and that about $5 million went to The New York Observer, owned by the trust fund of Kushner's children.

According to the lawsuit, Mark O'Donnell, partner of former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and chief investment officer of Kushner Cos, received between $300,000 and $400,000. O'Donnell told Reuters he did not receive any money for the deal. "I didn't meet Charlie Kushner until around April of 2007, and I didn't receive any money from Charlie Kushner 2007 other than a salary that I earned when I started with him at the end if the year," he said.

Jared Kushner, Charles Kushner's son who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, told Reuters: "No money has gone from Westminster Capital to the The New York Observer."

"There was an agreement. We lived up to our side of the agreement, and there's a dispute over that," Jared Kushner said.

According to the lawsuit, Swill is also entitled to up to $1.32 million for work he did on refinancing 666 Fifth Ave in July 2008, and $680,213 for work involved in the purchase of the AT&T West Loop office building in Chicago last year. (Reporting by Ilaina Jonas)