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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Forbes Removes 10 Saudis From “100 Richest” List After MbS’s “Corruption Crackdown”

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman reportedly extracted $100 billion late last year from a group of dozens of Saudi royals and businessmen – many of whom were his own cousins – in a “corruption crackdown” that had all the makings of a naked cash grab.

[The Prince has been critized for confining his countrymen to the Ritz Carlton Riyadh for months.]

Given the Saudi government’s reticence about the crackdown, it’s impossible to tell how much money was taken from each individual prisoner, making external evaluations of their post-crackdown wealth nearly impossible.

So perhaps it’s unsurprising that Forbes Magazine has decided to exclude all Saudi Arabian businessmen from this year’s list of the world’s 100 richest people. Last year, 10 Saudi nationals made the cut.

Out of the 10 Saudi billionaires who made the Forbes list last year, at least four were detained – the most recognizable being Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, pictured above, whose net worth last year was close to $20 billion.

As Forbes explains, given the Saudi government’s reticence, it’s impossible to tell how much money and assets were expropriated from each individual businessman.

Alwaleed and many others have been released, but checking out of the Ritz-Carlton cost billions. (Sources also told Forbes that Alwaleed is now banned from granting media interviews.) The Saudi government’s reported goal was to gather $100 billion to plug a hole in the budget that’s been growing amid years of low oil prices.

There are a thousand and one stories about what precisely happened, making it impossible to know definitively who gave how much to whom when. Forbes learned that at least one tycoon who was not detained handed over assets to the government.

Given these shifting sands of truth, we’ve chosen to leave all ten Saudis off our billionaires list this year; none would comment. With greater clarity regarding their wealth, some might eventually return to the ranking.

Here’s the list of Saudis that Forbes removed from this year’s list, accompanied by their last confirmed net worth (courtesy of Forbes)

* * *

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

$18.7 billion

Chairs publicly traded Kingdom Holding, which has investments in Lyft, Twitter, Citigroup and the Four Seasons.

Mohammed Al Amoudi

$8.1 billion

Assets include a Swedish refinery, Saudi gas stations and an Ethiopian conglomerate (gold mining, farming, construction).

Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer

$3.8 billion

His publicly traded Almarai dairy company is among the largest in the Middle East.

Mohammed Al Issa

$2.6 billion

His Assila Investments has stakes in a bank, a food processor and hotels.

Saleh Kamel

$2.3 billion

Founded Dallah Albaraka conglomerate (real estate, food, health care).

Abdullah Al Rajhi

$1.9 billion

With brothers, built Al Rajhi Bank, one of world’s largest Islamic banks.

Abdul Majeed Alhokair

$1.2 billion

Salman Alhokair

$1.2 billion

Fawaz Alhokair

$1.2 billion

The three brothers’ real estate empire includes 19 shopping malls.

Mohammed Serafi

$1.1 billion

Real estate investor.

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