Adnan Khashoggi

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Adnan Khashoggi (1980s)

Adnan Mohammed Khashoggi ( Arabic عدنان محمد خاشقجي Adnan Muhammad Chaschuqdschi , DMG ʿAdnān Muḥammad Ḫāšuqğī ; Turkish Adnan Kaşıkçı ), in German-speaking countries also written Adnan Kaschoggi or Adnan Kashoggi , (born July 25, 1935 in Mecca , Saudi Arabia ; † June 6, 2017 in London ), was an Arab businessman who worked in the 1970s as a Arms dealer became known.

Adnan Khashoggi was considered exceptionally wealthy in the 1980s. His total fortune was estimated at between four and ten billion US dollars. He made headlines primarily because of his lavish lifestyle.

education and profession

Until 1952 Khashoggi attended the exclusive Victoria College in Alexandria ( Egypt ), where he met, among others, the future Jordanian King Hussein . In 1953 he went to the United States and studied economics, first three semesters at California State University in Chico, then one semester at Stanford University in Palo Alto. During his studies he also began acting as a business broker. He earned $ 150,000 while assisting with the sale of trucks to Egypt.

family

Khashoggi, the family name means “ spoonbill ” ( Kaşıkçı ) in German, was born as the eldest son of Mohammed Khalid Khashoggi, one of the personal physicians of the Saudi King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud . His father was from Turkey . He had come to the country as a pilgrim to Mecca and made it up to the position of Vice Minister of Health. His sister, the writer and journalist Samira Khashoggi , married the Egyptian Mohamed Al-Fayed , who later became famous after taking over the London department store Harrods . Khashoggi was the uncle of Dodi Al-Fayed , the son of Samira and Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in an accident with Princess Diana in Paris in 1997 . Another well-known nephew was the journalist Jamal Khashoggi , who was murdered in October 2018 in the Saudi consulate general in Istanbul .

From his first marriage to his wife Soraya (1961–1974), Khashoggi has a daughter (Nabila) and four sons (Mohammed, Chalid, Hussein, Omar). As a result of the divorce in 1982, Soraya received compensation of $ 870 million. In 1978 he married Lamia Biancolini, who came from Italy. They have a son (Ali) together.

shops

In the mid-1950s, Khashoggi returned to Saudi Arabia and became a businessman. His first success was in 1956 when he brokered a delivery of American trucks to the Saudi army . He began his ascent in 1964 as a general agent for international brands such as Chrysler , Fiat and Rolls-Royce in Saudi Arabia.

From 1965 he earned money by mediating arms deals between large American corporations and the emerging Gulf states. During the 1970s, according to a report by a Senate investigative committee, 80 percent of all arms shipments from the United States to Saudi Arabia passed through his hands. He represented companies such as Raytheon and Lockheed , but also French and German manufacturers.

He controlled his business through the Luxembourg- registered company Triad Holding Corporation , whose headquarters were in Beirut . He took on his two brothers as partners. In 1974 he founded the Triad America holding company in Salt Lake City for business in the USA .

Stricter international arms controls made his business more difficult from the 1970s. He then invested in real estate, banks and oil refineries, but many projects failed. In 1990, Der Spiegel put his fortune at 50 million US dollars.

He gave interviews in the documentaries The One Percent and Where I Stand: The Hank Greenspun Story .

Yacht and residences

Khashoggi's yacht Nabila (1982)

Adnan Khashoggi's private yacht, named after his daughter Nabila, was 86 meters long, had a garage for a Rolls-Royce Phantom V , an on-board helicopter and a crew of 40. The yacht is mentioned in the song Khashoggi's Ship by the rock band Queen (on the album The Miracle ). In the James Bond film Never Say Never was the ship under the name "Flying Saucer" as the yacht of the villain Largo. The nabila was now owned by Donald Trump (as Trump Princess ) and is now owned by Prince al-Walid ibn Talal . Today it is called Kingdom 5KR .

Khashoggi had residences in several places. These included the “Mohamedia” villa on the Côte d'Azur , a 2,000-acre property called “La Baraka” in Marbella and two floors in the Olympic Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City .

Prosecution

In 1986 he was accused of mediating in the Iran-Contra affair . In 1989, at the request of the US, Swiss authorities arrested him for helping the Filipino dictator Marcos in illegal business with embezzled state money. In Switzerland he was represented by the later President of the Swiss Football Association Ralph Zloczower . During his detention he had a servant and had the food delivered from the Hotel Schweizerhof. On July 19, 1989, he was finally extradited to the United States, where he was first arrested by the FBI and then released into house arrest after ten days in custody. On July 2, 1990, a New York court acquitted him of the charge.

literature

  • Ronald Kessler: Kaschoggi. The richest man in the world . Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zurich 1987, ISBN 978-3-7263-6499-1 (Original title: The Richest Man in the World. The Story of Adnan Kashoggi . Translated by Jürg Wahlen, English original by Warner, New York NY 1986).
  • Adnan Kashoggi , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 12/1992 from March 9, 1992, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arms dealer and society lion: Adnan Kashoggi died at the age of 83. In: Small newspaper . Styria Media Group AG, June 6, 2017, accessed June 7, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Adnan Khashoggi: the 'whoremonger' whose arms deals funded a playboy life of decadence and 'pleasure wives' . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 30, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Michael Gillard: Adnan Khashoggi obituary. June 7, 2017, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Marcel Gyr: Why the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi was once arrested in Switzerland | NZZ . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . ( nzz.ch [accessed October 30, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Adnan Khashoggi. Retrieved October 30, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Kingdom 5KR. In: monacoeye.com. May 31, 2006, accessed June 7, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Khashoggi, Adnan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kashoggi, Adnan; Chashuqji, Adnan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saudi Arabian businessman (arms dealer)
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Mecca , Saudi Arabia
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 2017
Place of death London , England , UK