June 16, 2017
Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, once one of the world’s richest men who was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, has died at 81.
A statement from his family said Khashoggi died in London last Tuesday. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
Khashoggi was notorious for his lavish lifestyle. He was estimated to be worth about $4 billion at the peak of his wealth in the 1970s.
Khashoggi was a man of connections. His nephew, Dodi Fayed, was Princess Diana’s paramour and died with her in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Born in Mecca, Adnan was the eldest son of the personal physician to King Ibn Saud, founder of Saudi Arabia’s ruling dynasty. After attending toria.htm”Victoria College, Alexandria, the Eton of Egypt, he was sent to study engineering at Chico State College (now part of California State University). While there he saw opportunities for linking American companies with fast-growing Saudi oil riches.
Khashoggi was infamous for his role as a middleman in the 1986 Iran-Contra affair, which began with Israeli and Iranian dealers facilitating the sale to Iran of 1,500 US anti-tank missiles in exchange for US hostages held by Iranian allies in Beirut.
The deal occurred during arms sanctions against Iran, putting the Reagan Administration under fire and sparking a long series of investigations by the US Congress.
Khashoggi put together Iranian and Israeli arms dealers and provided $25 million in bridging finance. Desperate for payment and out of pocket on the deal, Khashoggi helped blow the cover of the covert operation through his dealings with the CIA. Iran-Contra further diminished him as a figure of influence.
Dropped by clients because he could no longer deliver lucrative Saudi business, Khashoggi spent the rest of his life pursued by creditors, regulators and prosecutors.
Khashoggi was no stranger to making a profit through deals between defense contractors and governments. A 1975 US Senate inquiry revealed that Khashoggi had been paid $106 million by Lockheed, $54 million by Northrop and $23 million by Raytheon. It also pointed to $45 million paid to him by the French for a tank deal and $7 million from the British for helicopters. Lockheed later paid Khashoggi another $100 million and Northrop a further $3 million.
Part of Khashoggi’s legacy is the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which bars bribery of foreign people or officials to assist in making deals.
The businessman, who rejected the title of arms dealer, lost many of his investments by the end of his life, including the legendary ship that Queen even wrote a song about. He is survived by his second wife, Lamia, and eight children.
In the 1990s, he was married to an Iranian, Shahpari Zanganeh, and they had a son and daughter before the marriage was dissolved.