Saudi Fined $1.1 Billion in BCCI Fraud
A federal judge has ordered a former Saudi government official to pay $1.16 billion in damages to the court-appointed liquidators of BCCI, a now-defunct foreign bank that was at the center of an international scandal.
U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green ruled late Wednesday that Abdul Raouf Hasan Khalil, a Saudi businessman believed to be the biggest depositor in BCCI, conspired with bank officials in a fraudulent scheme that resulted in big losses to the Third World bank.
Green ruled that Khalil allowed BCCI, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International to use his name and reputation as a shareholder in exchange for a payment of millions of dollars. The scheme allegedly included siphoning off more than $250 million from BCCI to a brokerage company partly owned by Khalil.
Khalil’s attorneys didn’t immediately return telephone calls Thursday seeking comment.
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