Ghaith Pharaon

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FBI wanted poster for Ghaith R. Pharaon
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FBI wanted poster for Ghaith R. Pharaon

Ghaith Rashad Pharaon, born September 7, 1940 in Riyadh (or Jeddah, or Onaira) Saudi Arabia is a prominent Saudi businessman and financier, and was a key player in the global oil and banking industries in the 1970s and 1980s, and currently a prominent investor 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" in the BCCI scandal, and for peripheral roles in the Harken Energy, CenTrust and numerous other scandals.

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-transfering (or hawala) networks of al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden.

Contents

[edit] Notable affiliations

[edit] Business associates

  • Roger Tamraz
  • Adnan Khashoggi, rival and occasional business partner.
  • Talat M. Othman, co-investor in Harken Energy.
  • Saudi financier Khaled bin Mahfouz; close friend and confidant
  • Sheikh Kamal Adham, BCCI principal, head of Saudi intelligence
  • Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil
  • Sheikh Abdullah Taha Bakhsh
  • Faisal Saud Al Fulaij, via BCCI.
  • Nazir Chinoy, BCCI.
  • Agha Hasan Abedi and Swaleh Naqvi, BCCI co-founders.
  • Amer Lodhi, lawyer; worked for BCCI and for Pharaon.
  • Gonzalez Fraga, economist hired by Pharaon to manage debt equity swaps for BCCI in Argentina.
  • Abbas Gokal, and other members of the Gokal Family of Pakistan.
  • P. S. Prasad, BCCI's largest individual borrower in the US at the time of its collapse; fled to India in 1991. (Not known if this this same current CEO & Chairman of the Kerala-based Dhanalakshmi Bank).
  • Bert Lance, Clark Clifford, Robert Altman, James R. Bath, via BCCI.
  • Sergio da Costa, former Brazillian ambassador to the US; BCCI front man in Brazil and consultant for Kissinger Associates.
  • Michael Ameen, Houston-based oil consultant, associated with Mobil, Aramco, Harken. Early acquaintance of Pharaon and long-term friend of Bakhsh.
  • David Paul, via CenTrust.
  • John Connally, co-investor with Mahfouz and Bath in the Main Bank of Houston.
  • George W. Bush

[edit] Family members

  • Dr. Rashad Pharaon, father. The Syrian-born Rashad came to Saudi Arabia, where he became chief physician to King Abdul Aziz, and later a political advisor to kings Faisal and Khalid.
  • Mazen Rashad Pharaon, brother.
  • Waleed Pharaon

[edit] Banking affiliations

[edit] Oil industry

[edit] 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.

[edit] Conglomerates

  • Pharaon Group of Pakistan
  • Various entities under the umbrella of the Saudi-based Attock Group of Companies, such as Attock Oil, Attock Cement of Pakistan, etc.

[edit] Real estate

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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).

[edit] Education

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

[edit] Current activities

Pharaon's current gigs with the Attock and Pharaon Groups, not to mention the need to touch base at the Janna Span & Resort once in a while, would seem to keep him quite busy.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

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