The Underworld Podcast - The World's Biggest Arms Trafficker Goes Down Hard

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

When Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi arms dealer and self-styled world’s richest man, met with US officials to discuss the Ayatollah, it may have seemed like a chance to cash in corporate power for political clout. But the affair — and an ill-advised friendship with the kleptocratic leaders of the Philippines — would send Khashoggi’s businesses into a tailspin, and land him jail. What came next was one of the most spectacular court cases of the era. And it finally shined a spotlight on the life and legends of a man whose lavish lifestyle was the envy of world leaders, and an up-and-coming Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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himself with some of the world's most beautiful and powerful people. Serving a subpoena on the Saudi billionaire, one reporter quips, was like trying to swat a fly with a rubber band. You never knew where he was going to fly next. Khashoggi's involvement in the shambolic Iran-Contra affair sent Justice Department officials into overdrive. But it's the Marcos'es, the corrupt first couple of of the Philippines who've landed Khashoggi with charges of racketeering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and mail fraud, with a potential prison sentence measured in decades rather than years. Washington says Khashoggi helped the Marcos's embezzle their nation's coffers,

and it wants him on American shores. Once the US rolls out its biggest legal drag net, there is barely a big fish or a fat cat, or a big wig, or a kingpin. I mean, how many metaphors can you actually mix in one sentence, that can resist its pull. And when U.S. Embassy staff alert Burns Cops that Coshoggi is in town for a medical procedure, at around 10 a.m. on this grey and cold April morning, the Schweitzer-Polytsy swoop, nabbing the arms dealer in his favourite hotel and leading him off, uncuffed to a nearby jail. There, Cushoggi will stay for three months,

pacing restlessly in a six-by-eight-foot cell. Most of his fellow prisoners are inside on drugs charges. They don't get food deliveries from the Schweitzerhof like Khashoggi, this strange, portly man, with his soft voice and cheeks like a kid's plush toy. Nevertheless, having to muck out a prison toilet is still quite the shock for a man used to living a life of unrivaled luxury, a modern-day midas,

travelling by private jet or super yacht, dining at Michelin-starred restaurants, and sleeping, rarely alone, in apartments and villas in almost every continent. Neither do Khashoggi's cellmates have the cash for his brigade of international lawyers, each of them fighting tooth and nail to avoid their client's extradition to the States. In the end, they secure a half-win. A Swiss rule that Khashoggi will face prosecution only for obstruction of justice and mail fraud,

avoiding the heavier racketeering and conspiracy raps. The Saudi agrees to go, and on July 19 that year, handcuffed but decked out in an olive safari suit with gold buttons and epaulets like a camp Colonel Gaddafi, Adnan Khashoggi steps off a first-class Swiss airplane in New York City, ready, after all these years of deals and dark money to face the music. Unlike every chapter of the self-style playboy's life, the next one will be nothing, if not utterly gripping. Welcome to the Underworld Podcast.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Underworld Podcast. A weekly, deep dive into naughty people and naughty stuff they love doing from Hong Kong to Habifah West, Biloxi to Bidogos. My name's Sean Williams, an investigative journalist and wannabe golfer, and I'm joined by Danny Gold, where I'm told, once played pitching part on acid with Colonel Gaddafi and abandoned Serbian sex club, or was that another rice reporter? That's actually everyone who worked there.

It's kind of part of the entry test. You have to do that and beat him, actually. Yeah, yeah. I think as this show is going out, I'm going to be in the Philippines. Like right now as you listen to this, it's the future or the past or wherever the hell it is. I'm following the drug war after 10 years for Harper's Magazine. And we're going to have plenty for that on the show as well, including a couple of bonuses, one on Night Patrol with the cops in Manila.

Another from Deval, which is the southern stronghold of the Duterte family on the deaf squads of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, the ones he ran before taking the top jobs. So that's going to be pretty fun and hairy. stuff. To get all that, plus interviews with leading writers, experts, plus add free shows, script notes and reading lists. There you go. There's a good ad. Join our Patreon. Patreon.com slash the underworld podcast. Tons of stuff there helps us keep going. Danny. Yeah, I thought it was called as Bulls where you were, but I don't think it is, right? I think as we're recording this, you've actually moved out to sunny Mexico. Yeah, dude, I'm on the, I'm on the Wahawking Coast,

Puerto Ascondido. We have some listeners who were like, actually, hey, I heard you're going here. Let's hang out. We have a hotel. So that's awesome. I'm going to hang with those guys. You know, power of the- So it's terrible, right?

Power. It's really bad there. Yeah, I mean, look, you know, do we have homes? No. Do we have retirement funds? No. But like, both of us are right now in locations where there are tropical birds that might ruin the sound, you know?

And that's, I think that speaks to itself. But yeah, also, bonus episodes, Spotify, iTunes as well. you guys can sign up right there on the app. Okay, that is nice. We're both in very nice places, and we have good lives, I guess. Just like Adnan Keshoggi, the Saudi Arms Deal, a billionaire. See what I did there? Who had tons of homes, an air fleet, and the world's largest yachts,

which we don't have any of. We left off in part one of his story a couple of weeks back. With things going swimmingly, he's making money, hand over fist, with America's three biggest weapons manufacturers. That's Lockheed, Northrop, Raytheon. and by 1987, I think where he left off, he's just made the cover of Time magazine with his Inspector Poirot looks and indefatigable charm,

but I said at the end of that show that things were about to go south. And if he had another stroke between the intro and now, you'll see that I've given the game away a bit. Koshoggi's about to fill the weight of Uncle Sam's boot on his neck. Well, though he's rich enough to get his charges watered down before he shipped across the Atlantic from Switzerland.

But let's first head back a few years to 1979. It's a big year. The Ayatollah is taking Iran, which is going to play into the next part of Khashoggi's story. And Khashoggi himself is getting divorced from his first wife, Soraya. Born Sandra, of course, Sandra Daly in the UK, mother to four of his kids, whom he married when she was just 20 years old. You know, if they can't make it work, like what hope is there for the rest of us? Yeah, I mean, I've been giving my Mrs. Patik-Philippe watch for the last 58 weeks of our relationship. and it's going strong. So Soraya starts talking about taking $2 billion from our husband's fortunes.

But that assumes that he hasn't been telling porkies about his earnings all these years. And Khashoggi winds up settling on $874 million for Soraya, which still makes it the fourth biggest divorce settlement of all time, unless we're going back to Henry VIII. Little disillusion of the monasteries joke for you there, guys, you are welcome. But this all poll votes Khashoggi into the media consciousness. and all kinds of crazy info comes out in the divorce courts. Yeah, I mean, this is like Daily Mail, New York Post, cocaine.

They would have had, back in the day, probably seven reporters assigned to the story. Yeah, and all of them doing shorthand as well. How horrible is that? Like, for example, the Khashoggi paid off American executives, presided Saudi princes with core girls, and he gave a $60,000 bracelet to a daughter of then, President Richard M. Nixon, who's going to come up again in this show, even bigger news comes when Soraya admits to having had a torrid love affair with a prominent British politician she calls Mr. X. This turns out to be, yes, you guessed it. Winston Churchill?

No, no, not that one. He died in 1965. It's his horned dog grandson, Winston Churchill, then also a Tory MP, and who's now also dead. Coincidence? I mean, there's so much information in that paragraph I may have to listen to. it twice, but also, is he a confirmed horn dog or is that, are you just speculating right now? I'm speculating. It's a speculative horn dogness. Yeah. I can't, I can't speak to the rest of his life, but yeah, he's dead. You can't slander the dead, can you? I don't know. But this is also, you know, red top titillation kind of stuff. What comes next, though, begins to really erode Khashoggi's cuddly arms dealer persona, leading to his later arrest in Bern. First,

there is a scandal involving Bronx-based defense contractor wed tech, you get in all this, which wins a dodgy $32 million contract to build engines for the army, which Khashoggi plays a key role in, which is of course corrupt, the company goes bust, and a bunch of his executives end up in court. I mean, come on, dog, how are we getting involved with a defense contractor based in the Bronx? Like, are you kidding me? These guys probably make war dog look like Tim Cook. like the guy's war dog with like Apple or Microsoft.

It's probably like I guarantee you it was one Albanian guy with two Dominican mechanics in an auto body shop off Jerome Avenue. And they somehow finagle the $32 million contract. Danny, Danny craps on the Bronx. We've got that in the show today. I'm pro hustle. I'm good for them.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I mean they should have, they really should have seen this coming. Why is it called wed tech? That's what I want to know. Anyway,

There is also something called the, it's French, so I'm sorry guys, the Cap de Aille, I don't know, affair, which uncovers one of Khashoggi's major supply chains of young women. That's quite a sentence as well. Hooking up with a coat-de-sure woman named Mareil, Grifon, aka Madame Mimi, who's doing basically yo sushi but with prostitutes for Khashoggi and his high-powered business partners. I guess you could call him Kashagi, because, yeah, he's shagging a lot. Nice. Nicely done. Thank you.

Here's a Vanity Fair piece from 1989 called Khashoggi's Four, and it's very good. Quote, Madam Mimi's operation boasted a roster of 300 girls between the ages of 18 and 25. A perfectionist in her trade, Madame Mimi groomed and dressed her girls so that they would be presentable escorts for the important men they were servicing. The girls, who were sent to Khashoggi in groups of twos and threes, called him Papagasy. Gato or Sugar Daddy, I didn't know that Papagato was the French for Sugar Daddy, which is way better, because he was extremely generous with them. In addition to their fee, 40% of which meant to Madame Mimi, the girls received furs and jewels and tips that sometimes equaled or surpassed the fee. And its article goes on, quote, one of the greatest hallmongers in the world, Khashoggi was generous to a fault and provided the same girls to members of the Saudi royal family as well as to business associates and party friends. His role as a provider of women for business purposes was not unlike the role

his uncle Yusuf Yassin had performed for King Ibn South. Remember him from the first episode? After the French police on the Riviera were alerted, a watch was put on the operations and the madam's telephone lines were tapped. In time, an arrest was made and the case went to trial in Nice in February 1984 amid nasty publicity. Madame Mimi, who is believed to a personally gross $1.2 million in 10 months got a year and a half in jail. Kawagi, who was her procura, got a year in prison, and Kashogi sailed away on the Nabila, his superiote. Starting off a biographical paragraph with the phrase, one of the greatest horror mongers in

the world is just, it's incredible. I mean, that is like, that's Polter stuff right there. Yeah. I would suspect, however, who I spoke to, well, yesterday, actually, as we're recording this, who is Khashoggi's stepdaughter, Patrina Koshoggi, a writer and actor based in New York. I don't think she would agree with this. And I mean, I wasn't expecting her to say anything bad about her family. Like we had a chat and she had reached out to me through a guy who listened to the show.

So that's pretty cool. Yeah, I thought it would just be interesting to include a bit of what she told me here. It was always very entertaining and fascinating and exciting, like never a dull moment, colorful characters from all walks of life and everybody was just so drawn to him because he was at the centre of it all an incredible host he was like a magnetic bright light that everybody was so drawn to so yeah make of that what you will and thanks to petrina for speaking to me i really do appreciate but with the cap de aisle affair yet again kashoggi has gone into a deal where everyone's ended up in prison or broke, and he's just sailed off on his big old boat.

He's starting to sound a bit like a shyster, right? And then there's the Iran-Contra affair, the plans for which kick off in earnest around this time, and it really shifts perceptions of him in the States from this sort of exotic, traded diplomat to something altogether more sinister. In case you don't know what Iran-Contra is, I'm going to try and explain it as briefly as possible. Okay, here goes. The Islamic Revolution means that the US has an arms. embargo on Iran and it tries stopping its allies selling parts of the country as it openly declares

his intention to export the revolution throughout the Arab world, not to mention flattening Israel. And Saudi Arabia, people always forget that one. But like, you know, that was a big thing. They wanted to take, overtake the Saudis as the Islamic power in the Middle East. And then you have the siege of Mecca like six months later, which, you know, the Saudis are looking at the Iranians as having encouraged it and it kind of freaks them out. And then, you know, you have this 40-year power struggle, which leads to the Saudis. starting to export Wahhabism. If you have a chance, read the siege of Mecca by Yaroslav, the reporter who does a lot of great work in the Wall Street Journal about Ukraine.

So that book's phenomenal. And then Black Wave is about that Saudi Iranian power struggle, which is crazy. And how much the sort of, you know, Iranians kickstarted this battle with Saudi Arabia that's taken over 40 years and led to all sorts of chaos. So it's, yeah, wild, wild year. 1970 and I was a wild year. Yeah, and it's just going to carry on getting wilder, even now. I mean, it's not going to die down anytime soon. Anyway, at first, I didn't think it was real. I woke up to this blinding light, and I was transported to another place.

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Iran and Iraq are at war and Iran reaches out and makes a secret plea to buy American arms against Saddam Hussein and some members of US intelligence and military make the case that they should in fact sell arms to Iran because A, it will stop the Soviets from stepping in and becoming an Iranian ally and B, it will curry favor with Hezbollah

Iran's proxy in Lebanon of course which at the time is holding a group of seven US hostages At the same time, President Ronald Reagan, who is no fan of communism in case you didn't know, he wants to arm right-wing rebels over the world in Honduras. These are called the Contras against their own leftist government. But Congress doesn't want to do this, so Reagan permits the NSC, the National Security Council, to continue funding the Contras with cash reaped from selling over 1,500 missiles to the Iranians. Now, on November 3rd, 1986, a Lebanese magazine reveals this,

calling it a quote, arms for hostages deal. Reagan goes on TV, denies it, then a week later says, oh, whoopsie, you meant those Iranian missiles? Yeah, that was us. There's a massive blowback. A few of the instigators, including famously Oliver North, are fired. But in the end, a commission appointed by Reagan, declares that Reagan didn't actually know about any of the really juicy contra stuff. So the Reagan appointed commission lets Reagan off. Anyway, there's a guy, Ted Shackley, who plays a very, very big role in a lot of us. stuff about the Golden Triangle we've done. He played a key role in all of this as well. And if you've seen the show American conspiracy about this kind of octopus thing that Danny

Casillara was reporting when he was allegedly killed or committed suicide, yeah, he was deeply involved in Iran-Contra. Ted Shackley's all over the place. Anyway, there must be a million podcasts on all this. And there's a lot more to it than that, of course. But basically, Iran-Contra had begun back in 1983 when National Security Advisor Robert Mufarlane had met yeah, Adnan, Khashoggi. Koshoggi then gets working on his mega-roller decks and by 1985 he's having dinner in Hamburg, Germany

with an expat Iranian arms dealer named Manashe Gormaniphar. Now, Manny Gormanifar, I'm going to call him, could easily be his own episode, as could several other people in today's show. But prior to the Islamic Revolution, He is a member of the Shah's Secret Intelligence Service, the Savak, which if you look it up, has hands down the coolest insignia of any unit I've ever seen. Yeah, it's like a flying man, lying eagle hybrid. It's pretty sick. Yeah, it's dope.

He also heads an Israeli-Iranian shipping firm, and throughout his life there are strong beliefs he's an Israeli agent. I mean, I think at one point he does something in Libya, and he's like, well, yeah, Libya is against the interest of Israel, which is, you know, a bit of a tell. Anyway, Khashoggi meets Manny in Hamburg. I don't know if they go to the Reaper Ban. And between them, they facilitate the Iran part of Iran-Contra. There's a massive scandal, of course. And folks start wondering who the hell Adnan Khashoggi is if he isn't just that cuddly little sort of wheeler dealer

they've been told about in the media. There's actually an episode of Nightline where Barbara Waters, who, if you don't know, this very famous report in the US, she goes to Monte Carlo to meet Gorbanafar. because Shoggi has set up the meeting and he's just hanging out of the casino slinging chips. He even tells Waters he's brought Israel Shimon Pires on board. Remember the last episode because, quote, I thought the Americans will not know how to investigate this guy,

Gorbanifar, properly because their channels have been cut. So, yeah, he's a pretty big time talker. Anyway, this whole thing, Iran-Contra, exposed, complete mess, and it shatters public confidence in Reagan. again, Khashoggi just walks away, but not for long. It's 1986 now, and the frenzies keeping are doing pretty bad stuff indeed. Take, for example, the Duvaliers, the exiled Haitian dictators living at large in southern France, I think they're driving around in Testerosses and all kinds of shit.

They are staying at a home found by them by Khashoggi, belonging to his son. Here is Ron Kessler in his biography of Khashoggi called the world's richest man, used a lot for part one of this, quote, what Khashoggi needed most was people, and his money brought him that. He figured only two and ten of his friends would still be there if he had no money, but he accepted it all,

accepted even the people who stole from him, or took kickbacks, because most of all he feared being isolated, like King Midas, counting his gold in an empty room. Well, that listeners is what we call dramatic foreshadowing, but what you might not have guessed is that it's the Philip.

a distant archipelagic state in the Pacific Ocean, that will light the spark of Khashoggi's downfall. And it goes a bit like this. In February 1986, a popular revolution brings to an end 20 years of rule by klepto-despot Ferdinand Marcos, who is thought to have robbed his nation's coffers of up to $10 billion. Plenty of this goes to his glamorous wife, Imelda, a former beauty queen and owner of the world's most notorious shoe collection. I think they're around the 3,000 pairs in total. Do we know that the shoes thing is real or is that lore? No, man.

There's a, there's a museum of the shoes in Manila, like just down the road from where I'm not right now, but when you're listening to this, I am. I bet you'll check that out, you little feet weirdo. Yes, I love that. Anyway, moving quickly on, on a single 90-day overseas trip, Imelda-Barkos is thought to have spent $9.5 million back then, which includes 12 grand on bed sheets, 50 grand on silver serving plates and half a million on Cartier gems. The Marcos's are friends of the Regens, however.

And despite how obvious their crimes are, the US allows the couple to flee the revolution and live in exile in Hawaii, scooping up millions of dollars in cash, jewels, gold and art as they scamper onto a jet. This is another episode in his own right, of course. his episodes, man. Churning it, churning it out. But Khashoggi is there all the way with his pals, the Marcos's. He fronts around $160 million in illegal real estate deals. And when U.S. authorities embark on a kind of half-ass, really, attempt to return some of the Marcos' loop back to the Philippines, they discover that four large holdings in New York City, on FIFth Ave,

Herald Square, Wall Street, and Madison Ave have passed to Khashoggi. These properties appear to have been bought in 1985, but investigators believe they've been fraudulently backdated. In addition to them, Khashoggi is hiding more than 30 paintings the Marcosis have stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, including works by Rubens, El Greco, Picasso and Daegar, first on his super yacht and a villa, and then in his penthouse in Cannes, France. Here's Vanity Fair again. Quote, the penthouse was raided by the French police in a search for the pictures in April 1987, But it is believed that Khashoggi had been tipped off. He turned over nine of the paintings to the police,

claiming to have sold the others to a Panamanian company. But investigators believed that he sold the pictures back to himself. The rest of the loot is thought to be in Athens. Well, this is just embarrassment upon embarrassment for the US government, from the shambles of Iran-Contra, to Reagan's coziness with the Marcos's, their criminal kleptocracy, and the glowing evidence they've plunked a bunch of stolen goods on their flight to Honolulu.

and Adnan Khashoggi is right at the heart of all of it. He even claims he's owed between 10 and 15 million bucks for the quote, bridging money he'd supplied for the Iran missile deal, which, yeah, that's a massive flex. Halas, says Washington, and it goes after Khashoggi hard. Authorities charge him twice, once for the four New York properties,

and second for the art he's screwing it away in France, or Athens, or wherever the hell it is at this point. He's arrested by Swiss cops at the Schreterhoff Hotel, and having tamped the charges down to obstruction of justice and mail fraud, he has flown out to the States. Koshoge's two brothers, the one he owns Triad with, they stump up $10 million for bail. And Adnan just carries on living the high life, waiting for his megatrial to run its course. He goes everywhere with two Korean bodyguards, Keel and Lee, who are both Taekwondo champions and the former protectors of the Korean president. I mean, these guys would demonstrate their skills at Khashoggi's parties by kicking cigarettes from guest smells, which is pretty annoying if you ask me. But I guess if you're on a bottle of moa and half a gram, it's probably okay.

I mean, these guys actually sound awesome. Like, there's an episode right there. I'm Googling, I'm like looking them off after this and I want to look at their photos and take it all in. It's just impossible not to listen to this and hear Peel and Key. Peel and Key and just like, yeah, this is just like a full comedy episode. But anyway, all this stuff, it just begins to look like window dressing. Because while he's on bail, Khashoggi's businesses take a nosedive. Not only is he political kryptonite by this point.

I mean, neither the Americans, not even the Saudis really want much to do with him. But he's also spent the fat end of two decades plowing his cash into ridiculous projects. We mentioned them last week. There was a Sudanese agriculture plan, a land deal in Gabon, a Turkish trader, a Chinese city, a giant expo center next to the pyramid of Giza and way more. And of course, tons of them had failed. Got to spend money to make money, baby. Yeah, how's your crypto wallet looking these days?

I think all the money's gone. Okay. That's good. I spent the money. I didn't make the money, though, unfortunately. The second part is always a little harder for me. I mean, I'm sure there are some guys in Puerto who can help you empty a little bit more. In 1987, Triad files for bankruptcy having failed to pay contractors on a massive complex in Salt Lake City, Utah.

There is unpaid rent, his luxury condos, his planes are seized. Maintenance on the swimming pool in Manhattan, that stops. Khashoggi even fails to pay for his daughter's helicopter lessons. What a bastard! All the time, this guy keeps on throwing insane parties, keeps dishing out for cool girls like he's on Uber Eats. But even Saudi Arabia's national commerce bank sues him for $22 million at this point, plus interest for a slew of unpaid bills. By the way, on this point, I was also able to speak alongside Petrina with Vivian Ventura, who was a 60s socialite and activist.

I mean, look her up, guys. She's had quite the incredible life. And for years, she was one of Adnan Khashoggi's closest friends. I mean, literally her and Petrina just walked off the goal course when we chatted. and here is what she said about Khashoggi's dealings. If he saw anybody sad or upset, he said, well, we're going to fix this right now. This has to go away. And all the heads of state, all the presidents,

I met a lot of very important people when I traveled with Adnan in his entourage. And I mean, one of the things we did that I went with him was we were invited for breakfast to the White House after the second investiture of President Nixon. But it's unbelievable how presidents adored him and treated him like he was the most important person on earth. When things started to go wrong, the problem I've learned in my life is that when people get so big and so powerful and so wealthy,

is that sometimes mistakes are made with the people that they surround themselves with. And sometimes you get people that are giving the wrong advice. And I believe, I really believe, and I'm not going to mention names, but I believe that there was a point in AK's life that he started surrounding himself with the wrong people. That's when I think mistakes were made. And I'm not saying there were Adnan's mistakes,

but I'm saying that you then get advice. and the advisors become more ambitious than the actual principle. So again, it's not surprising Vivian and Petrina were back for their family and friends, and it wasn't that kind of interview really. I wasn't going to push them too hard. But others believe it was a little less undermining and a bit more the actions of a comment. And to be fair, when you read back what others from Khashoggi's inner circle have said about him, that assessment might not be a million miles off.

here is Khashoggi's architect Alan Calvo Quote AK has a way of convincing you of almost anything He can persuade you with his charm To change your mind after you've made it up He builds people up He introduces people in such a flattering way As to make them blush

He finds very quickly the point to touch them the most Afterwards people say You saw how nice he was to me People feel flattered Almost in love with him I mean there's tracks right Like this is what Great politicians, great business leaders

they've all got this kind of factor, right? You're the only person in the room thing. But anyway, in 1988, things get worse. Khashoggi is forced to sell the Nabila, his 281-foot super yacht to the Sultan of Brunei. After a quick fix-up, the Sultan then sells the yacht to real estate mogul Donald Trump. Koshoggi doesn't want Trump to keep the boat's name,

which of course Trump has no intention of doing anyway. So Trump renames the Nabila the Trump princess, after his own daughter of Ivanka, but not before he's knocked a million off the deal to change it, which is, to be fair to Trump, pretty incredible deal-making. Damn, that actually is like the art of the deal. You know, he's going to do it anyway, he just gets a million bucks out of it.

Like, that's, you know, got to give him credit for that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do got to hand it to Donald Trump. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote, USAA.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply.

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go listen to Morning Cup of Murder wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay safe. Dominic Dunn, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece, I've quoted from quite a bit today. He actually meets Trump at this time, who tells him that, quote, I read every word about Adnan Khashoggi. I mean, Danny, can you do a Trump voice? I feel like everyone could do a Trump voice, but I can't. I wish I could.

I mean, you can eat off that, you know? I mean, give it a go. Give it a shot right now. Oh, my God. This is going to be horrific. Trump goes on in his quotes. this has the potential Khashoggi was a great broker

I can't do it you do it Kishoggi was a great broker and the lousy businessman he understood the art of bringing people together and putting the deal that's actually not bad yeah that was not as bad as I thought it was going to be

you started off Marlon Brando and then it kind of more and then it got good for like a minute like a second I'll take Ray Romano anything is going to be better than what I thought it was in my head anyway I'm going to do the rest

in my own voice sorry guys he understood the art bringing people together and putting together a deal better than almost anyone, all the bullshitting part of talk and entertainment. But he never knew how to invest his money. If he had put his commissions into a bank in Switzerland, he'd be a rich man today, but he invested it and he made lousy choices. And Trump actually goes on Letterman to talk about the yacht,

calls it, quote, probably the greatest yacht ever built. It's been kind of a great investment. Where do you think that boat is right now? Do you think it's like shipwreck somewhere? I do not know. Should we ask Jack? Let's look it out.

Yeah, go on, go on. Oh, it's, it's now owned by that guy, Al-Walid bin Talal, that Saudi magnate. Yeah, of course it is. Wasn't he, like, one of the guys who was, like, imprisoned in the five-star hotel in Riyadh or something during that MBS thing? You know, casually detained, I think is the phrase that they were going for. But it was either going to be, it was either going to be someone who was 100% locked in that hotel or in a Russian oligarch.

Like, that's the only two people that can own a boat that big. Yeah, pretty much. I'm pretty sure I interviewed that guy once when I was living in Dubai. Anyway, in 1989, a lawyer named Steve Martindale brings out a book about his experiences with Khashoggi called By Hook or By Crook. And it exposes some of the flim flam. He claims he's seen while accompanied in the Saudi as a legal representative. At this point, Khashoggi lists his net worth as just under $54 million,

which is a tiny fraction of what it's allegedly been just a few years prior. What's remarkable, writes Martin Dale, is that he managed to fall so many people for so long. The notion that AK, as he likes to be called, is a billionaire may never die. I mean, 54 million after some setbacks. Like, that's, you know, it's not like he was Anadelvi. Like, he was probably somewhere in the low nine figures, right? Like, he was doing, if you're like, I've only got 54 million left. Like, maybe you're not, you know, Musk, but like, you're doing all right.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, maybe, maybe a. because Shoggy should have done dancing with the stars. He could have pulled himself back from the brink. Anyway, Martin Dale goes on, quote, My travels with Adnan taught me something about illusion and reality in the world of the super rich.

It also gave me a chance to witness one of the more miraculous traveling circuses of the 1980s, in which Adnan and friends roam the globe looking for new infusions of cash that would allow him to stay afloat. I mean, this does sound like most hyper-rich people I've ever met in their lives as well. This is where a quick trip to the reading list for today's episode might come in handy, guys,

because Martindale goes on this crazy, ranty story about an Indian Swami and the Sultan of Brunei, and it's just, I couldn't include it here, it's just way too dense, but he tears Khashoggi to pieces, allegedly. Quote, he prospered because of his ability to entangle wealthy people and institutions, from the Saudi royal family to the Reagan administration, in the illusion of his wealth and power. He traded quite literally on his reputation as a billionaire wheeler dealer. I mean, yeah, like that's how the billionaires are doing it now as well, right? It's just you become a brand. Anyway, take for example Iran-Contra, where Martindale claims Khashoggi's bridge finance

included a check that hadn't cleared when Iran received its funds, according to Israeli sources. There's a lot going on there. Or that he had drained $130 million from Triad when he claimed it was investing $90 million. And even as Khashoggi attempts to revive his image via a series of philanthropic ventures, Martin Dale claims he only dishes out tiny amounts of pledges, and he's dumped from the boardrooms of academic institutions because he doesn't even bother showing up. It's at this time, seemingly, the Khashoggi, right?

Here we go, another thing here, begins interacting with Jeffrey Epstein. I never thought we would say the words Jeffrey Epstein on this podcast, but we are about to go into this. he works on shady business deals in the Middle Eastern Africa with Epstein and Epstein will later say he'd worked at this time to help quote governments to recover money stolen by African dictators and that he's occasionally subcontracted by those same dictators to quote help them hide their stolen money

which would of course tally with Khashoggi's Marcos deals and Saudi Arabia is listed as Epstein's residence in one of the fake passports seized from his home in 2019 which has led to all all kinds of crackpot theories about Pido Islands and women being murdered for Khashoggi and Epstein and the Clintons. And, okay, I'm taking a deep breath. You know where you can go with that shit, guys. Anyway, Ferdinand Marcos dies in 1989. But in July 1990, a New York judge acquits Imelda Marcos on fraud and racketeering charges and does the same for Koshoggi. Marcos thanks, quote, God Almighty for the vindication, adding,

I am in great awe and respect for the jury system that symbolizes the soul of the American people. Khashoggi, probably just shattered from all the years of shagging and partying and wins and losses, but it a little bit more prosaically, quote, I'm proud of the jury system, I'm going to Mecca. And to Mecca, Khashoggi goes. Not to make Hajj, of course, but to drift from the limelight to the place of his birth to enjoy old age. Not that he tamps down his lifestyle, according to Petrina. I didn't notice any dramatic changes because he was pretty consistent with his mood throughout. You know, he was quite laissez-faire.

Like, he didn't, he wasn't affected by whatever was going on. He just was always in a good mood. He was very philosophical. It was like, you know, money comes, money goes. it wasn't like any great drama if things were going badly and he lived like a king to the very end. So, you know, it wasn't like, oh, wow, Uncle Adnan's fallen on hard times. It certainly wasn't noticeable. In 1991, Khashoggi marries his third wife, an Iranian woman named, I'm really sorry, Iranians listening to this, Shepari Azam Zangani.

In total, he has eight kids during his life. But beyond Khashoggi's business demise, there is a real changing of the guard in the arms dealer world. The Berlin Wall has fallen, the Soviet Union is toast, and a host of Cold War era guys, including, of course, Koshogi, they go to the wall, while young upstarts like Victor Boot make billions in the ashes of global communism. Take at this point, for example, Sarkis Soganalian, the Syrian, Lebanese, Armenian I mentioned in the first part of our Khashoggi doubleheader, known as the merchant of death. With his own bushy cartoon villa moustache, half dozen chins and a big old round tummy,

a big, big fat man, a big fat arms dealer. This guy is also the merchant of death too. You can't just call all of them the merchant of death, you know? Yeah, maybe you've got to number them. But, I mean, you can't really think of a better term than that, can you? I mean, merchant of death, bringer of bombs. I don't know, yeah. Bringer of bombs probably isn't going to cut it there.

Anyway, well, Khashoggi is playing off the champion. championship teas, this guy is hacking off the yellows, selling to Middle Eastern death spots, taking chunks out of each other in countless border wars. Again, this guy's life can probably, and it probably should be, another episode altogether, but to give you a brief rundown, in 1981, he pleads guilty to selling 50-calibur machine guns to Mauritania, but he gets off because he's in cahoots with the State Department. In 1982, he sells weapons to Argentina in the Falklands War. again, the Americans know he's doing it and they keep him on the books. That's against our boys, our lads, by the way.

In 1993, he sentenced to six years for selling 103 helicopters to Saddam Hussein. But he whittles it down to two when he tells US officials of a place in Lebanon that's making counterfeit $100 bills. Then he's charged with wire fraud. But he's released after 10 months to help with an investigation of a Peruvian spy in Jordan. I mean, yeah, this. guy is like the Teflon Pete of his time, really similar to Keshoggi, speaks seven languages, moves to Miami, but never takes you a citizenship in part because the White House can always keep its

distance. Of course he moves to Miami. Like that's exactly where he would go. Exactly. And I'm sure he had a house in Dubai. Here's an incredible quote he gives to PBS in 2001. This is really great. Quote, being an Armenian, you are raised fighting to survive. Since we survived the Turkish massacres, a genocide like that of the Jews and others, we were the first general. generation was such a background. So you can say it was in my blood and in my dreams. As a young man, you like nothing more than weapons. Women were secondary. As at that age, we didn't know anything about that. And here's a brief musing on the morality of his business. Quote, each transaction has its own benefit. Sometimes you want to do something even if it's not legal

and you must consider. Where are the costs and where are the benefits? Is this transaction worth it? that's pretty good. You see this similar kind of myth making in Khashoggi too, who despite his semi-retirement is the focus of a 2009 New York Times article called an arms dealer returns, now selling an image.

But the image seems to be basically screw the haters. And here's where we get to a bunch of that idiot savant, live life, laugh style bullshit I warned you about in part one. Quote, opportunity when it knocks, you have to be able to open the door.

And it knocked. What can I tell you? Deep. And to the downfall of his billion-dollar empire, Kishoggi says, quote, What happened is very easy. We were on the top, business-wise. We were doing very well, and suddenly they got involved in this Marcos story. As the Krispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud.

And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy. throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me and baby I'm a whole meal.

And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet, no. Krispy, saucy and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley through 62326 participating stores only while supplies last the app for full terms. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money.

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so yeah I mean he's not selling a new image here and when Khashoggi is asked about all the contractors he's never paid all the mad parties and bankruptcy and false filings this is his answer quote if you want to furnish a house you need money if you want to buy a car you need money If you want to have lunch, you need money.

You know what Napoleon said, money is not everything. It is the means to everything. Where did I go wrong? Koshoggi asked. Nowhere. And he adds, quote, I behaved unethically for ethical reasons. Yeah, me too. I do that.

I do that too, you know? Yeah, I mean, you've got a month in Mexico. In 2011, Sarkis-Sogan alien dies, and on June 6, 2017, Adnan, Koshoggi dies too, what is being treated for Parkinson's disease in London. He's 81 years old. And since then, his memory has faded really quickly. Like I said, in the previous show, Koshoggi and Sogan Alien, they just feel like characters from a bygone era.

Gatsby's, master manipulators, playboys, relics. In fact, Koshoggi has become such a meme. He even inspired his own real-life conman, a Colombian-born orphan adopted by an American couple called Anthony Enrique Jinyak. his Instagram would have been incredible. Yeah, hands down. Unbelievable.

Actually, Vanity Fair gets another big shout on this episode because they did a great piece on Jinyak in 2018. But basically he gets his start as a millionaire scam artist age 17 masquerading as quote, Prince Adnan Khashoggi, which he later changes to Omar Khashoggi to Bilko Limo Company out of almost nine grand. And if you like Comman Capers, and who doesn't, it's written by Mark Seal.

It is great. It's called He Actually Believes He's Colored the amazing 30-year Odyssey of us counterfeit Saudi Prince on the reading list, which can be yours alongside a ton of bonus material for a few bucks a month. Thank you very much. But yeah, that is your two-parter on Adnan Khashoggi. I mean, I really enjoyed that. I wouldn't know about him forever.

So, yeah, cheers for listening. Anything I need to remember before I pack my bags from my litter? You know, just make poor decisions, which I'm sure you will. So we have content, you know. Just think when there's the decision to make and it's between making a good one and a bad one, think what would provide better content. Great. I will. Not for your article.

I don't mean like for your for your article. Like forget, I'm talking about for like right, like us like going back and forth. Oh yeah. Yeah. Forget your. Yeah. Forget your actual work. Cool.

All right then. I'll, uh, I head down to McCarty's red light district and I'll see you next week. All right, everyone. Until next week. Thanks for, thanks for listening. Patreon.com. Later. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, and audit dread?

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