Financier Caught During Rejuvenation Therapy : Quest for Youth Khashoggi’s Undoing

It was Adnan Khashoggi’s search for the medical fountain of youth here that led him into the arms of American justice.

Government sources said Wednesday that the free-wheeling Saudi Arabian financier came to the Swiss capital for cellular therapy aimed at rejuvenating flagging virility.

In fact, Khashoggi’s Swiss doctor, who specializes in therapeutic cellular injections, was with the plump, 53-year-old multimillionaire in Khashoggi’s lavish hotel suite when he was arrested at breakfast Tuesday.

Late Wednesday, Khashoggi’s battery of international lawyers pondered their strategy as their client rested in a Spartan jail cell, scarcely 100 yards from the five-star Schweizerhof Hotel, where he checked in Monday.

Police sources said Khashoggi was apparently recognized checking into the hotel by a Swiss lawyer who represents the Philippine government, which is seeking bank accounts of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife, Imelda. Khashoggi has been wanted by the U.S. government on charges of helping the Marcoses hide wealth that they looted from their country’s treasury.

The lawyer, according to the sources, called the U.S. Embassy here, which then notified Swiss authorities that a warrant had been issued in New York City last month for Khashoggi’s arrest and asked the Swiss to take him into custody.

The indictment specifically charges that Khashoggi, a go-between in huge arms deals involving Western firms and Middle Eastern countries, unlawfully helped Marcos and his wife buy expensive property in New York and sell works of art belonging to the Philippines.

Swiss Justice Ministry sources indicated that there is little chance that Khashoggi can avoid being extradited.

“He can appeal to our Supreme Court,” said one ministry official. “But I don’t think they will accept his claim that he has medical problems--not if he was undergoing cellular therapy to stay young.”

According to legal experts here, Khashoggi’s attorneys, recognizing that there is little likelihood that the Swiss will turn down the extradition request, might decide to send him to the United States to face the charges.

Since there is no bail in Switzerland, in ordinary circumstances, Khashoggi would have to remain in his cell until legal appeals were exhausted.

“Our prisons are not bad by American standards,” a Swiss official said. “Single cells, a cot, wash basin, toilet, table, chair. TV if you want. But it’s not the Ritz. Some say more like the Club Med. Even so, I don’t think it would appeal to Mr. Khashoggi.”

“If he’s ultimately going back to the U.S. to face the music, why not do it sooner rather than later?” another Swiss expert asked Wednesday. “Besides, the Americans will probably let him out on bail if he makes the effort to go back. However high the bail, he can afford it.”

After Khashoggi arrived in Switzerland--the Swiss are not sure from where--he checked into the Schweizerhof with his daughter, Nabila, and at least four bodyguards, according to sources here.

Khashoggi has used the medical facilities at Bern’s Tiefenau Hospital before, say authorities here. His visits have been solely for cellular therapy, in which various distillates of animal fetuses are injected into humans in the hope of prolonging youth and virility.

Under Swiss law, there is no reason Khashoggi’s treatments could not continue in jail.

And there was other good news for the financier Wednesday: Prison authorities said he will be allowed to order meals from the renowned Schweizerhof Hotel.