Saudi Royals Thwarted Huge Court Judgment, Sheik’s Wife Claims

A woman who married into the Saudi royal family sued King Fahd and his brother, Prince Turki, in Los Angeles on Thursday, accusing them of thwarting her effort to collect $216 million from her estranged husband.

The plaintiff, Sheika Dena Al-Fassi, and her husband, Sheik Mohammed Al-Fassi, are best remembered locally for when they lived in a $5-million Beverly Hills mansion adorned with four Greek statues on which were painted flesh, hair and genitalia.

Until it burned down in 1980, the 38-room mansion was a regular stop for gawking tourists, infuriating the couple’s Sunset Boulevard neighbors.

In her federal court lawsuit, Dena Al-Fassi, who lives in Italy, complained that the king and his brother conspired to prevent her from collecting on an $81-million judgment granted by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge after the couple legally separated in 1983.

The judgment is now worth $216 million counting accrued interest, according to her lawyer, Marvin Mitchelson.

Efforts to reach Saudi Arabian officials for comment Thursday were unsuccessful. The Saudi Embassy in Washington was closed for Ramadan.

The lawsuit accused King Fahd and Prince Turki of helping Mohammed Al-Fassi conceal his assets from his wife.

It also charged that the king and prince helped him “kidnap” the couple’s four children, despite a court order granting custody to Dena Al-Fassi.

In addition, the suit argued that the king and prince are responsible in varying degrees for the unpaid $216-million judgment.

Mohammed Al-Fassi, who lives in Egypt, is Prince Turki’s brother-in-law, according to the lawsuit.

When the prince married Al-Fassi’s sister in 1976, the suit said, he assumed financial responsibility for her immediate family, including her brother.

The suit said this is part of a long-standing “custom, tradition and practice” endorsed by King Fahd, who shells out hundreds of millions of dollars a year, principally from oil revenue, to favored family members.

Since the Al-Fassis separated, the suit said, Prince Turki has continued to bankroll his brother-in-law “with the express agreement” of King Fahd, enabling Mohammed Al-Fassi to maintain an extravagant lifestyle.

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act would normally protect King Fahd and Prince Turki from being sued in U.S. courts. However, the lawsuit filed Thursday said the king and prince are not being accused of acting in their official state roles so they are not immune.

Dena and Mohammed Al-Fassi met in London in 1974 while she was studying English and working part time in a boutique. They were married in 1975, moved to Beverly Hills, and separated in 1982.

In 1983, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge awarded her half of their estate, then valued at about $160 million.

It included the Beverly Hills property; two Boeing 707 jets; 36 cars; a $15-million yacht; 26 horses; a zoo in Saudi Arabia; homes in Switzerland, London, Spain, Florida and Saudi Arabia; and millions of dollars in jewelry, carpets, antiques, paintings and gold coins.