Saturday, November 4, 2017

HUGE: Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Has Been Arrested

Billionaire Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal 

This is a developing story. Return to this post for updates.

UPDATE 1

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a prominent member of the counrty's royal family and a wealthy investor, was arrested on Saturday in connection with
a wide-ranging anti-corruption initiative, according to local reports, according to CNBC.

UPDATE 2



Al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud (Arabic: الوليد بن طلال بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود‎‎, is  a grandson of Ibn Saud, the first Saudi king, a half-nephew of all Saudi kings since.

UPDATE 3

He is the founder, chief executive officer and 95-percent owner of the Kingdom Holding Company, which has major positions in Apple, Twitter, Lyft and is Citigroup's largest individual shareholder.

Al-Waleed is also the second-largest voting shareholder in 21st Century Fox, and owns Paris' Four Seasons Hotel George V and part of the Plaza Hotel. Time has called him the "Arabian Warren Buffett".In March 2016 Forbes listed Al-Waleed as the 41st richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $17.3 billion.

UPDATE 4

The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel also reported late Saturday that dozens of princes and former ministers were detained in a new anti-corruption probe.

Also, the king ousted one of the country's highest-level royals from power, relieving Prince Miteb bin Abdullah of his post as head of the National Guard. Prince Miteb was once considered a contender for the throne.

The monarch also replaced Minister of Economy and Planning Adel Fakeih.

More coming...

UPDATE 5

RW analysis:

Note doubt this is the work of Crown Prince Mohammed Salman, who is first in line to succeed King Salman to the throne. The Crown Prince is the cousin of Al-Waleed.

I have not covered the Crown Prince in EPJ but I have in the EPJ Daily Alert given his importance to the oil markets.

Some snippets from the  EPJ Daily Alert 

June 21, 2017:
Overnight, Saudi's King Salman unveiled his decision to relieve 57-year old Interior Minister Muhammad bin Nayef of his position as crown prince in favor of his 31-year old son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman.
This could be significant for the oil price going into 2018.
Bin Salman, known as MbS, has a reputation for interacting in an impulsive and often abrasive manner, particularly with regards to international relations. It is believed that he is largely responsible for the aggressive military action the Kingdom is conducting against Yemen. 
He also sees Iran as a major enemy.
July 3, 2017:
The Aramaco IPO is Mohammed bin Salman's plan. He is going to do everything he can to get the oil price up for the IPO. I would not rule out anything. 

July 5, 2017:
It is not clear how aggressive the Saudi-bloc will get at this time but the confrontation underlines the instability in the region and the generally aggressive stance Saudi Arabia is willing to take with the new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, exerting more and more influence.

July 17, 2017:
Long-term ALERT readers know that my view is that Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is likely to do whatever it takes to get the oil price up ahead of the late 2018 IPO of Aramaco. I repeat whatever it takes
He is young and ruthless
July 24, 2017:
One final note. There are more moves in Saudi Arabia that are concentrating power into the hands of  Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

July 31, 2017:
I expect the Crown Prince to do what he thinks is necessary to get the price up. Nothing can be ruled out.

And now we have the Crown Prince arresting his very powerful cousin. That is, the ruthless, reckless Crown Prince has just increased tensions on an international level.  Al-Waleed has very powerful friends in the west. Very powerful. This is going to get very interesting.

UPDATE 6

It should also be noted that the Crown Prince appears to get along with President Trump while  Al-Waleed has posted some negative tweets about Trump. During the presidential election campaign, there was even a back and forth twitter battle between Trump and  Al-Waleed.

A sample from the back and forth:


Curiously, Trump tweeted this out just hours before the arrest of  Al-Waleed.

Hmmm.

UPDATE 7

The heads of the main three Saudi owned TV networks were arrested, Alwalid Bin Talal (Rotana), Walid Al Brahim (MBC), Saleh Kamel (ART)

UPDATE 8

The Crown Prince comments:

UPDATE 9

Roger Stone reports attack on Mosques next in Saudi Arabia. He says Bush supporters were taken down in the purge:

UPDATE 10

Looks like Trump is all in with the reckless one.

Via The New York Times:

 At least three senior White House officials, including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were reportedly in Saudi Arabia last month for meetings that were undisclosed at the time.


UPDATE 11


UPDATE 12

Trump called the Saudi King in a show of support on the day of Saudi purge.

From The New York Times:
 President Donald J. Trump has spoken with the king of Saudi Arabia to offer a wholehearted endorsement of a drive to modernize the kingdom, as the Saudi authorities arrested scores of prominent business people and ministers in a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown.

In an unusually lengthy and detailed readout of the call made on Saturday, the White House said that Mr. Trump had thanked King Salman for Saudi Arabia’s support in fighting terrorism and for its purchase of military equipment from the United States. And he praised the king’s favorite son and top adviser, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for his recent calls for tolerance and moderation in Saudi society.

“The king and crown prince’s recent public statements regarding the need to build a moderate, peaceful and tolerant region are essential to ensuring a hopeful future for the Saudi people, to curtailing terrorist funding, and to defeating radical ideology — once and for all — so the world can be safe from its evil,” the White House said in the statement.
UPDATE 13

SEE: BREAKING HOT: Saudi Helicopter Carrying 8 High-Ranking Officials & Crown Prince Mansour Crashed - All Dead

UPDATE 14

Saudi prince Abdel Aziz Fahd (son of late King Fahd) is dead. Possibly killed in firefight as security forces tried to arrest him.

1 comment:

  1. LOVE seeing WEASEL KILLER Al-Waleed PINCHED! Hopefully he is extradited to U.S. and charged with orchestrating 9/11! Then he can RAT OUT the Bushes and other in U.S. personnel involved or complicit. Doubt he'd make here alive. Love to get a honest answer from Giuliani about why he told Al-Waleed to take his multi million dollar check and SHOVE IT where the sun doesn't shine!

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