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Ghaith Pharaon

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File:Ghaith R Pharaon.jpg
FBI wanted poster for Ghaith R. Pharaon

Ghaith Rashad Pharaon, (b. September 7, 1940 in Riyadh (or by varying accounts, Jeddah or Onaira), Saudi Arabia) is a prominent Saudi businessman and financier, as well as a fugitive from judicial inquiries in several countries, most notably for his role in the BCCI scandal.

Background

Pharaon was a key player in the global oil and banking industries in the 1970s and 1980s (and at one time, the No. 2 Saudi investor in the United States, after rival Adnan Khashoggi), and is currently still active and prominent player in Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, Algeria, Jordan, and elsewhere. A continuing subject of interest by the FBI, the Department of Justice, the IRS, the Arma dei Carabinieri and various other investigative agencies, he attained brief notoriety in the U.S. for his having been identified by the Federal Reserve Board as the "frontman" for the BCCI enterprise, and for peripheral roles in the Harken Energy, CenTrust and numerous other scandals. He was the second largest sahreholder In CenTrust Bank, behind its Chairman and CEO, David L. Paul. CenTrust, once the largest savings and loan association in the southeastern US, failed in 1990, costing US taxpayers $1.7 billion. It was the fourth-largest bank failure in US history. Paul was convicted in 1994 of 97 counts of federal banking violations and served a prison term of nearly 10 years.

After the events of September 11th, he re-emerged as a subject of public interest, due in part to having been a former classmate of George W. Bush at Harvard Business School, and a prominent investor in Bush's short-lived venture Arbusto Energy. According to a 70-page French parliamentary report released in October of 2002, Pharaon has been identified as a recent player in the informal money- and value-transferring (or hawala) networks of al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden. However, despite these allegation, Pharoan is known to friends primarily as a secular businessman with no personal interests in radical Islam.

Notable affiliations

Business associates

Family members

Banking affiliations

Oil industry

Minor holding / shell companies

  • Interedec Inc, Savannah-based holding company, established 1983 (along with sister companies in the Netherlands Antilles and in the Bahamas).
  • GRP Inc, another Georgia-based holding company, established 1981.

Conglomerates

Real estate

Notable past holdings

  • The Hyatt Hotel in Riyadh was one of Pharaon's earlier projects, and helped launch his career. It later became known in the West as the U.S. Military's base of operations in the Persian Gulf War.
  • Pharaon also owned the former estate Henry Ford II estate outside of Savannah, GA.

Current holdings

  • The 5-star Janna Spa & Resort, outside Madaba, Jordan (about an hour south of Amman); recently given a gushing review by the New York Times. (Janna means "paradise" in Arabic).

Education

Pharaon is said to have obtained his early education in Lebanon, Syria, and Saudia Arabia. Later studied at the Colorado School of Mines, Stanford University and Harvard Business School. He uses the title "Dr Pharaon."

Current activities

Pharaon's currently works with the Attock and Pharaon Groups and maintains his interest in the Janna Span & Resort.

Hobbies

The extremely wealthy and camera-shy Pharaon is known to be quite fond of cigars, and in recent years has taken a keen interest in speedboat racing. He is said to have a principal residence near the Red Sea and to get around from time to time with the help of his 160-foot super-yacht, Le Pharaon.

  1. ^ http://www.nrlpak.com/directors_reports_annual_r.html
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