Ghaith 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 Saudi 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 shareholder 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 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 allegations, Pharoan is known primarily as a secular businessman with no personal interest in radical Islam or its agenda.

Notable affiliations

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.
* Bert Lance, Clark Clifford, Robert Altman, James R. Bath, via BCCI.
* Sergio da Costa, former Brazilian 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

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, involved in the BCCI scandal.
* Waleed Pharaon
* Wabel Pharaon, brother, also involved in the BCCI scandal, notorious womanizer with known mistresses in Paris and London.

Banking affiliations

* BCCI
* Main Bank of Houston
* The National Bank of Georgia (U.S.)
* Independence Bank of Encino
* CenTrust Federal Savings Bank of Miami, a "failed satellite" of BCCI
* Bank of the Commonwealth, Detroit.
* First American Bankshares

Oil industry

* Arbusto Energy, seed investor.
* Occidental Petroleum Company, shareholder.
* Attock Oil Company Limited, UK, major shareholder

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

* 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, National Refinery Limited Pakistan. [ [http://www.nrlpak.com/directors_reports_annual_r.html National Refinery Limited ] ]

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 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).

* The 60 meter superyacht Le Pharaon, launched in 1989 by Feadship Royal Van Lent and lengthened in 2003 during a refit at Peters Schiffbau GmbH.

Education

Pharaon is said to have obtained his early education in Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Later studied at the Colorado School of Mines, Stanford University and Harvard Business School. He insists on being addressed by 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, due to his son, Laith Pharaon, competing in that sport. 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 197-foot super-yacht, "Le Pharaon". This vessel was boarded by the Italian Carabineri and Rome office of the FBI on the 8 July 2006. Their attempt to apprehend Pharaon failed as only the crew, including 2 British ship's officers were on board.

References

External links

* http://www.pharaon.com - defunct personal website
* http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.pharaon.com/ - snapshots of Pharaon's site at the Wayback Machine
* http://www.techmati.com/yachts/pharaon/index.htm - "Le Pharaon" photoblog at yachtmati.com