REUTERS, 27th MARCH, 2018-The White House is investigating whether two loans totaling more than $500 million to the family real estate business of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner violated any criminal laws or regulations, according to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Democratic lawmakers asked the White House and Kushner Cos for documents after the New York Times last month reported the loans extended in 2017 by Citigroup Inc (C.N) and the private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

In a letter to a congressman made public on Monday, David Apol, acting director and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, said, “I have discussed this matter with the White House Counsel’s Office in order to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining the facts necessary to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated.”

“During that discussion, the White House informed me that they had already begun this process,” Apol said in the letter dated March 22 to Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.