Rami Makhlouf is a Syrian businessman and a maternal cousin of former president Bashar al-Assad.
31 Facts About Rami Makhlouf
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Rami Makhlouf was stripped of his shares in Syriatel, and the consortium he had established as the biggest investment vehicle in Syria was taken off line.
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Rami Makhlouf's remaining assets in Syria are considered to be insignificant compared to the billions he has transferred abroad on behalf of Bashar al-Assad.
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Rami Makhlouf was born on 10 July 1969, and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Damascus University in 1993.
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Rami Makhlouf is related to the Assad family through his aunt, Anisa Makhlouf, who was the wife of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.
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Rami Makhlouf is the main owner of Syriatel, one of two licensed mobile phone companies in Syria.
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Rami Makhlouf was among a diverse group of connected insiders who monopolized the small, but growing, Syrian private sector in the 1990s.
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Rami Makhlouf is thought to have tried in 2004 to take over the Mercedes concession in Syria, by ensuring passage of a law denying Mercedes the right to import parts unless Rami Makhlouf was made the exclusive agent for Mercedes in Syria.
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Rami Makhlouf is the majority owner of Cham Holding which has investments in luxury tourism, restaurants, and real estate through Bena Properties.
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Rami Makhlouf is invested in several private banks established in Syria, such as the International Islamic Bank of Syria, Al Baraka Bank, International Bank of Qatar, Cham Bank, and the Bank of Jordan in Syria; in insurance and financial services companies, such as Cham Capital.
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Rami Makhlouf has extensive land holdings in the United States Virgin Islands, which were the subject of court litigation.
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Rami Makhlouf maintains a close relationship with Bushra al-Assad, Bashar's older sister, and her late husband Assef Shawkat.
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Rami Makhlouf operates a number of business projects in Lebanon with Maher al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother.
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Rami Makhlouf employed these techniques when trying to acquire exclusive licenses to represent foreign companies in Syria and to obtain contract awards.
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Political observers generally accept that Rami Makhlouf's great wealth is a result of his close family ties to the Syrian government.
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In leaked US diplomatic cables, Rami Makhlouf is described as a powerful government financer.
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Rami Makhlouf has further been accused of illegally diverting Lebanese telephone calls through Syria with the help of businessman Pierre Fattouch for the benefit of Syriatel.
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Rami Makhlouf paid for the Syrian Air Force helicopter fuel through shell companies, for example.
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The US Treasury sanctioned Rami Makhlouf, charging that Pangates had supplied the Assad government with a thousand tonnes of aviation fuel.
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Rami Makhlouf was able to continue unimpeded operations through the shell companies, since neither jurisdiction fell under US law; however the EU sanctions did affect the companies in the British Virgin Islands.
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Rami Makhlouf was seen by the rebels as a symbol of corruption in Syria.
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Rami Makhlouf was implicated in the leaked 2016 Panama Papers, which detailed his control over Syria's national industries.
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Rami Makhlouf's name surfaced as part of the Swissleaks investigation.
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On 9 May 2011, Rami Makhlouf said that "if there is no stability here, there's no way there will be stability in Israel", then he added, "no way, and nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbid, anything happens to this regime", in an interview with The New York Times.
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On 16 June 2011, Rami Makhlouf stated that he would "quit the Syrian business scene".
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Syria Files examined by Al Akhbar showed that Rami Makhlouf continued to invest in several banks during 2011 and 2012.
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On 22 April 2020, Egyptian authorities seized 4 tonnes of hashish hidden in a cargo of milk cartons, related to a company owned by Rami Makhlouf, in Port Said which was heading to Libya; however, he later claimed that the incident was a set-up aimed at "defaming" him.
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Rami Makhlouf, who was a part of President al-Assad's inner circle said he would pay the President himself but not the state.
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Rami Makhlouf applied but failed to obtain Austrian citizenship from 2009 to 2011.
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Rami Makhlouf's children have garnered controversy for their luxurious lifestyle.
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Ali Rami Makhlouf is an Instagram celebrity with over 250,000 followers caused controversy when he was spotted in Beverly Hills, California driving a Ferrari Spider in 2021.