This grandson of the brother of the Saudi Arabian ruler was the Head of User Operations for Facebook Arab until August 2011 and once stated: “Facebook is the reason I’m not going for an MBA right now. Facebook was my MBA. Facebook was my PhD. [Working at Facebook] was the most educational opportunity I ever could have asked for. It was amazing to be working on a project that could change people’s lives”. A resident of Los Angeles, bin Faisal Al Saud has helped found several other technology startups since including Na3M Games and Appiphany and in an interview said that one day he “hopes he can have a penthouse on Mars”.
Tag: Saudi Arabia
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Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud
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Alleged makes allegation
Supposed ‘princess’ Sara[h] Al Amoudi claims that property investor Ian Paton is a ‘crack addict’ who had an ‘affair’ with her
We’ve reported on the case brought against alleged “princess” Sara[h] Al Amoudi before and received correspondence from all manners of connected parties. Now, though her true identity is still to be proven, she’s the one making the allegations. (more…)
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Propping up a 'princess'?
Sara[h] Al Amoudi: a supposed ‘Saudi princess’ who has a history with the British court faces two property investors who claim she duped them into handing her £14 million worth of properties in Central London
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: “Where there’s brass, there’s muck”. (more…)
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Propping up a ‘princess’?
Sara[h] Al Amoudi: a supposed ‘Saudi princess’ who has a history with the British court faces two property investors who claim she duped them into handing her £14 million worth of properties in Central London
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: “Where there’s brass, there’s muck”. (more…)
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The battle of the vanities
An Iraqi medical student and an aspiring actor from Abu Dhabi battle it out for the title “the most beautiful face ever”
Regular readers will recall our having added Omar Borkan Al Gala to our roll call some time ago. He was deported from Saudi Arabia as authorities there deemed him “too sexy” and since, with the ensuing press attention, he’s landed a part alongside Homeland’s Navid Negahban (who plays Abu Nazir in the series) in a short film titled 51.
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Five of the best: Homes suitable for the Beckhams
As David and Victoria Beckham continue their search for a new home in London, The Steeple Times suggests five of the best options
This morning, yet more “sources close to David and Victoria Beckham” were telling the press that they’re on the search for a London home. This unnamed individual stated that they need a “minimum of 10 bedrooms” (more…)
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Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
Ranked as “the most influential Arab in the world”, Al-Waleed has at various times held investments in News Corp, AOL, Apple Inc., Motorola, Fox News, Eastman Kodak, TWA, Twitter, The Savoy, the Four Seasons hotel chain and Euro Disney SCA. Not afraid to back his beliefs financially, the “Buffett of Arabia” gave £18.5 million to the families of Palestinian “martyrs” in 2002 and sent a cheque for $10 million to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the 9/11 attacks. In exchange he requested “a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause”. The cheque was returned. When Forbes magazine listed him as being worth £13 billion in March 2013 he was irate at the use of “incorrect data” that “seemed designed to disadvantage Middle Eastern investors”. Al-Waleed, whom rival publication Bloomberg list as being worth £18.5 billion, indignantly told Steve Forbes to remove him from his list and announced through his office that would he would “sever ties” with it. Surely, this dispute could be easily solved as, after all, what’s a billion or two between friends? -
Knightsbridge’s playboy racers
A review of Channel 4’s Millionaire Playboy Races by Matthew Steeples
I watched last night’s Millionaire Playboy Racers expecting to find myself in agreement with Knightsbridge residents complaining about the noise generated by Arabs and their supercars. In many instances I would have previously agreed that they are bloody pests but surprisingly, by the end of the 45-minute Channel 4 documentary, I was left with feelings quite to the contrary.
My followers on Facebook often comment on the snaps I take of the supercars that come to London from Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Some are impressive and amazing. Others are vulgarity personified. A few are shown below.
A pink Rolls-Royce Phantom 
A purple Mercedes-Benz G-Class 
The white way to go? Millionaire Playboy Racers was commissioned, like most television these days, to provoke. It failed. The whingeing residents of The Royal Borough complaining about the cars, one of whom was bizarrely named “Panda” Morgan-Thomas, came across as spoilt and obnoxious whilst it was a Kuwaiti named Abdul Aziz Al Rashed who came across best.
Panda Morgan-Thomas and her daughter in Sloane Street 
Abdul Aziz Al Rashed in one of his supercars
This sensible young man expressed his views clearly. He understood the situation and though the British police treated him unfairly at one point, he remained reasonable. As the show ended he stated:
“I be very serious with you… At 12am I stop using this car as many people are sleeping… My friends are very sad to go back to Kuwait… I feel very sad to leave this nice place to go back to my desert… Give us London and we give you Kuwait.”
Morgan-Thomas, her daughter and their friends on the other hand came across as weird busybodies. These resentful, hectoring pests showed the people of this wealthy enclave in their worst light. As an example, Ms Morgan-Thomas showed the cameras a tree made out of roses that she had dried in her flat that she was building up towards her ceiling. She stated that when the top was reached she might marry her partner. Who on earth would do such a bizarre thing? The woman is plainly a loon.
Justin Downes, another of their number, did not help the cause of the anti-supercar crusaders with comments like:
“[They’ve created] a kingdom of Qatar in the middle of London… Idiots… I’ve seen the area move from being a very quiet residential area to being cosmopolitan in a way that is extreme… These Gulfies come in and use the area to drive recklessly. If they were UK citizens they’d be prosecuted… I am angry.”
Here were people who came across as racists and bigots. They damaged their cause and of the residents the only one I felt sorry for was an elderly lady who lived in a basement studio near Harrods. This poor woman came was indeed being disturbed late at night and if more like her had been interviewed then an entirely different perspective would have been presented. Instead, Channel 4, to satisfy their viewers, allowed a woman who lived in one of London’s main shopping streets to make residents come across as a bunch of utter weirdos and freaks.
I am still of the opinion that many of these Arab drivers are reckless and vulgar but having watched this programme, the ridiculousness of the “Knightsbridge girl” Panda and her chums has now truly been exposed. In fact, I’d rather it be her who is kept off the streets of SW1.
Watch Millionaire Playboy Racers at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/millionaire-boy-racers/4od
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Jocelyn Wildenstein (née Périsset and also known as “Jocelynnys Dayannnys da Silva Bezerra”)
If one spent $2,000,000 on cosmetic surgery, one would expect to end up looking fantastic. It didn’t quite work out in the case of the billionairess “Bride of Wildenstein,” though, as instead she discovered the husband she thought she’d please in bed with a 19-year old Russian. Feline like in appearance, the purr of this New York socialite is said to be just as bad as her bite. She’s known to be a skilled hunter and pilot and once boasted her telephone bills were at least $60,000 a year. Surprisingly far from camera shy, what on earth will she look like at ninety? -
Wafic Saïd
This billionaire was born in Damascus in 1939 and declares his loves to be music, architecture, art and horse racing. His home is the £50 million neo-Georgian mansion Tusmore Park near Bicester in Oxfordshire and he supposedly paid Robbie Williams in excess of a million to perform at his daughter’s May 2012 wedding to PR Khaled Khawaja at The Palace of Versailles. Saïd was one of Margaret Thatcher’s biggest supporters but is also said to have been a confidant of Peter Mandelson. As chairman of Saïd Holdings Limited, he presides over an empire with investments in hedge funds and real estates but he’s better known for the £23 million endowment he provided to establish the Saïd Business School in Oxford in 1996.