Guilty or not - this saga will explode. Internal police/protection forces discreetly putting an alleged villain, in cotton wool.

And - because it's all so secretive - we don't know of any about possible involvement, by these employees, of a 'billionaire'. Yet; maybe none.

Only a few decades ago, Fayed was running a stall in an Egyptian market. Few know how he found the money to buy Harrods and less will want to investigate a dead man.

I say he got his capital from smack, hashish and cocaine. Bought a hotel did it up on the cheap and sold it for millions.

Green Man wrote:
Bought a hotel did it up on the cheap and sold it for millions.

Which hotel - where?

I want to know how he started his shipping business. He did own a very nice place Gstaad in Switzerland. Which was the first one of his property projects, then I think he bought several afterwards. There is not much transperancy.

He owned the Ritz Paris with his brothers and I he sold his shares to them.

I still think he made his first few millions by selling drugs and doing drug running.

Green Man wrote:
I still think he made his first few millions by selling drugs and doing drug running.

No evidence appears to link AF to the drugs trade - unless you can provide a link.

Al Gershwin wrote:
Green Man wrote:
I still think he made his first few millions by selling drugs and doing drug running.

No evidence appears to link AF to the drugs trade - unless you can provide a link.

I am only assuming but my father knew some colourful people, that's all I am going to say.

Just another false allegation then.

Green Man wrote:
I say he got his capital from smack, hashish and cocaine. Bought a hotel did it up on the cheap and sold it for millions.

Fayed's lucky break was marrying into the arms billionaire Adnan Kashoggi's family.

I worked for a time for a fashion magazine owned by Kashoggi..a sort of vanity project and he was super nice the handful of times we actually met him.

His tentacles were everywhere and he was all powerful in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia whose wealth he could tap into.

But I think Fayed was pretty canny himself and with Kashoggi he has a ready backer for his projects. Pretty sure the finance for Harrods came from Kashoggi.

hedda wrote:
[quote]Green Man wrote:
Pretty sure the finance for Harrods came from Kashoggi


That's been the word on the street for years: AL, at the time of Harrods purchase, didn't have anything like the c£615m required.

Later, it sold to the Qataris for more than £1.4B. This link gives a lot of details on the Harrods acquisition, the intrigue and the players.

www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/02/mo...-grief-broken-father


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Al Gershwin wrote:
www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/02/mo...-grief-broken-father


🫢

He could have been a grief broken father and a rapist Barney. Obviously, I have no idea about either; though not sure why the idea is worth a "titter"...

If I read you right, about the 'titter'(!!?) emoji - it was directed at myself.

For referring (and forgetting) to include the Guardian link, about ALF.

Al Gershwin wrote:
If I read you right, about the 'titter'(!!?) emoji - it was directed at myself.

For referring (and forgetting) to include the Guardian link, about ALF.

Apologies Barney misunderstood.

I think we can assume that it was Middle East oil money that financed Fayed's Harrod's purchase and the Paris Ritz.

I dealt extensively in the late 70s with one of the Saudi princes (a "first wife" son which meant he was important) and he was extremely generous as is the reputation of ME folk in business..smart but not afraid to splash money around if it buys results.

Fayed was probably generously rewarded by his backers if he produced results for them over the years.

Look at Trump's son-in-law Jared Krushner being "rewarded" with $2B to invest which immediately brings him multi $millions in profit from fees.