http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/middleeast/14khashoggi.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
The Saturday Profile An Arms Dealer Returns, Now Selling an Image Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times "My personal philosophy is I don't regret matters that happen, good or bad." ADNAN M. KHASHOGGI By MICHAEL SLACKMAN Published: November 13, 2009 CAIRO He was a small man, with a very neatly trimmed black mustache, seated in a corner, leaning forward on his walking stick, smiling, sipping Scotch from a glass that seemed too large for his frail hands. His face brightened with a smile as he reminisced about the dictator's wife who once locked herself in the bathroom of his private jet and the star-studded, five-day extravaganza he threw for his 50th birthday. Oh, the memories of a fallen billionaire arms trader. "My personal philosophy is I don't regret matters that happen, good or bad," said the man, Adnan M. Khashoggi, who is 74 years old and these days prefers to be remembered as "Mr. Fix It," rather than the arms dealer involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. "I just accept this as my destiny. It's a personal attitude." Mr. Khashoggi has been linked to - but never convicted in - almost every major scandal of the late 20th century: Wedtech, B.C.C.I., the indictment of the Marcoses in the Philippines, as well as Iran-Contra. He is a favorite of conspiracy buffs, who have connected him to such things as the death of Princess Diana (her boyfriend at the time, Dodi al-Fayed, was his nephew) and to voting irregularities in Florida in the 2000 presidential election (a former employee was a local election official). Now, he is trying to make a comeback. After a lifetime spent using his connections to make deals for himself, he is working as a consultant, selling his connections. Instead of commissions he gets "incentive pay." He flies commercial now (at his clients' expense), which is a big change for a man who once had his own DC-8, and he lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the only property he still owned after the collapse of his empire. But he is far from broke, or at least manages to appear far from broke, which has always been the magic of Mr. Khashoggi. "It is all part of the mechanism for impressing people, with your talk, with your views and with your appearance," he said of his once-profligate ways. Mr. Khashoggi was born into opportunity, if not outright privilege. His father was the personal physician to King Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the modern state of Saudi Arabia. He made $150,000 the summer after his first year at California State University, Chico, selling heavy trucks to Muhammad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's father. He attended Stanford but never graduated. The lure of business was too great. The kingdom had oil money and wanted to build up its military. Mr. Khashoggi showed it the way, becoming the link between American weapons manufacturers and the kingdom. He was a young man earning huge commissions. At one point he was called the richest man in the world, though on reflection it appears the more accurate title may have been the biggest spender in the world. "Opportunity, when it knocks, you have to be able to open the door, and it knocked, what can I tell you," Mr. Khashoggi said in his typically understated manner. Mr. Khashoggi became world renowned because he saw extravagance as a calling card - personal jets, yachts, estates around the world - all of which won him powerful friends and lucrative deals. He hired the rock band Queen to perform at a birthday party once, and they wrote a song about him called "Khashoggi's Ship." But his behavior also won him notoriety. He was the arms dealer in the Iran-Contra scandal, in which senior Reagan administration officials sent arms to Iran in violation of an arms embargo to secure the release of hostages and financing for the American-backed forces in Nicaragua. He also was indicted - and acquitted - on charges that he helped the Marcos family loot hundreds of millions from the Philippine treasury before fleeing Manila. He had a reputation as a playboy and as someone who hired high-priced prostitutes to win over some of his clients and benefactors. It was all part of his game, one that he ultimately lost. "What happened is very easy," he said. "We were on the top, business wise. We were doing very well and suddenly they got us involved in this Marcos story." HE admits that he never paid attention to what he was spending. And he spent a lot. At one point in 1987, Mr. Khashoggi appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The article said that he was laying out $250,000 a day to maintain his lifestyle. Less than two weeks later, on Jan. 29, Mr. Khashoggi's holding company in the United States filed for bankruptcy, listing liabilities of $197.5 million and assets of $9.5 million. His informal way of business was based on connections, a handshake - and a lot of cash. He never really built a business; it was all him. Mr. Khashoggi portrays himself as a passive player in a world where rich, powerful and greedy people were more than happy to have someone like him around. He is not ashamed to say that the end justified the means, and that making money was a noble end in itself. "If you want to furnish a house, you need money; if you want to buy a car, you need money; if you want to have lunch, you need money," Mr. Khashoggi said. "You know what Napoleon said: 'Money is not everything, it's the means to everything.' " Last we heard about Mr. Khashoggi, he was still in a slide, under suspicion in several countries, including the United States, where he was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for stock manipulation (he says he will soon be cleared in that case). Mr. Khashoggi agreed to meet at an outdoor restaurant at a hotel in downtown Riyadh. He has trouble walking these days, and a tough time lifting himself out of a chair. When he speaks, he leans in close and grasps the arm of whoever he is talking to in a warm, disarming way. "There is a lot to straighten out," he says, a phrase intended to enlist and disarm. He did not have long to talk, so he hoisted himself up, promised to meet again and hobbled off to a chauffer-driven Cadillac. A week later, he was seated in the bar at the Four Seasons in Cairo, his back to the Nile. A man seated by his side referred to him as "Your Excellency," took his calls and arranged his appointments. Mr. Khashoggi was wearing a pink button-down shirt, the top few buttons open enough to expose a still shiny scar from open-heart surgery five years ago. He does not appear to be an introspective man. In fact, he sounded a bit like a real estate broker who thought he was a brilliant businessman because he grew rich during the real estate bubble, only to lose it all after the crash. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked "Nowhere." Mr. Khashoggi speaks slowly and calmly, paying great attention to appearance, only once allowing his frustration to slip through. He feels, it seems, that those who criticize his ways, his ethics, are hypocrites. He recalled with pride a story of how he helped a major American arms dealer who was under Congressional investigation on accusations of paying $400,000 in bribes to Saudi generals. A company executive, he said, asked if he would tell investigators that the money was given to him, not to the generals, as a commission. "I said, give me the money and I will say I received it," he recalled. The company, he said, gave him the money. Then the executive asked if he would tell investigators he received the money and never paid any bribes. "Of course I will say that. What do you think you paid me $400,000 for?" he said, slapping his knee. The story had a moral: Helping friends and making money are what matters. "O.K., I behaved unethically, for ethical reasons," he said. Mr. Khashoggi was ready to leave; he was to fly back to Riyadh on Egypt Air. He rushed off to his room and returned in his Saudi robes. He was escorted to the front of the hotel where a large, shiny black Mercedes limousine waited. He waved, then lowered himself gently into the back seat for the ride to the airport. "With my style of life, I don't need to retire," he said before he left the hotel. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
