Fouad al-Zayat (1941 – 26 March 2018) was a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

billionaire businessman, investor and

gambler Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...

. He founded various companies including Mortimer Off Shore Services Ltd. (now run by his son and son-in-law). al-Zayat requested the assistance of the U.S. Supreme Court in securing a payment of approximately $8 billion on German bonds that

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

ordered into default prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. According to

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, during the Greece corruption trails al-Zayat was "tried in absentia and sentenced to life for bribery and 17 years for money laundering".

Lobbying controversy

In 2003, Fouad al-Zayat was commissioned by the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to help purchase a luxurious jumbo jet to be used by the Iranian president. However, the

Iran and Libya Sanctions Act The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 (ILSA) was a 1996 act of the United States Congress that imposed economic sanctions on firms doing business with Iran and Libya. On September 20, 2004, the President signed an Executive Order to terminate ...

(ILSA) prohibited the sale. al-Zayat met with U.S. congressman

Bob Ney Robert William Ney (born July 5, 1954) is an American politician from Ohio. A Republican, Ney represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until November 3, 2006, when he resigned. Ney's resignatio ...

and lobbyists Roy Coffee and David DiStefano. According to the

U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

, during those meetings Ney accepted "thousands of dollars worth of free casino chips" from al-Zayat. Roy Coffee and David DiStefano confirmed that they worked with Ney to seek a special government permit to let al-Zayat "sell plane parts to Iran despite U.S. trade sanctions." However, the permit never was awarded.

later admitted to helping al-Zayat, and was subsequently sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail after "pleading guilty to trading political favours for money and gifts." In 2007, the

Iranian military The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, are the combined military forces of Iran, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Arteš''), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (''Sepâh'') and the Law Enforcement Force (Police). Iran ...

took al-Zayat to court for failing to deliver the aircraft. Al-Zayat claimed he had not delivered the plane "because of a dispute over money." Consequently, al-Zayat won a £60m High Court battle with the Iranian military over the missing airplane.

Gambling

al-Zayat is also known for his lavish gambling and is considered a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

in the casino industry. Between 1994 and 2006, al-Zayat wagered £91.5 million at the

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

club

Aspinall's Crown London Aspinalls (or Aspinall's) is a private gambling club, established by John Aspinall in London since the 1960s. Crown London Aspinalls is currently at 27–28 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London. History Club founder John Aspinall, known ...

and lost £23.2 million. In 2006, Aspinall's sued al-Zayat for £2 million plus £50,000 in costs due to gambling debts incurred from

blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

losses in 2000. al-Zayat was court ordered to pay the debt, but later appealed. The appeal was successful and the ruling was overturned in 2008 under the pretense that the credit given was unlawful under the Gaming Act.

Personal life

al-Zayat has 6 grandchildren He died in 2018 from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zayat, Fouad 1941 births 2018 deaths Syrian businesspeople Syrian gamblers Syrian billionaires