The Bin Ladens

Eyes, p. 35: “My own pre–11 September 2001 research found no data showing that any money tied directly to Bin Laden had been located, blocked or seized in the West’s [banking and financial] system.”

28. A ROLLS-ROYCE IN THE RAIN

1. All quotations from the beginning of the chapter through “adequate” are from “Declaration of Christine Binladin,” February 18, 1992, filed in Christine Binladin v. Ibrahim Binladin, BD058156, Los Angeles County Superior Court.

2. Ibrahim with Dodi Fayed: Interview with Jack Kayajanian, August 25, 2005; Kayajanian represented Christine after her divorce litigation resumed in 2002. Never filed a tax return: Christine’s “Trial Brief,” Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit. “a very…young lady”: Telephone interview with Michael Balaban, June 15, 2005. Denim and Diamonds: Decor described in Time, March 15, 1993.

3. Interview with Balaban, ibid. Representatives for McCartney did not respond to requests for comment.

4. “In the end…pay for this’ and Ibrahim’s comments about work: Interview with an employee of the Bin Ladens who asked to not be identified.

5. An unsigned copy of the agreement was filed in Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit.

6. Christine’s excerpted deposition testimony, ibid.

7. Consecrated under Islamic law: “Final Divorce Judgment,” July 6, 1993, ibid. “and the wine…sight!”: Freeman, “The Saudi Connection,” unpublished manuscript.

8. All quotations in this passage from Ibrahim’s excerpted deposition testimony, Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit.

9. “Declaration of Christine Binladin,” December 1992, ibid.

10. “I see very…unhappy man”: “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” December 22, 1992, ibid.

11. Christine’s excerpted deposition testimony, op. cit.

12. “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” op. cit.

13. “She only started…from me”: “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” ibid. “remained with…long enough”: “Respondent’s Memorandum of Points and Authorities For Trial,” January 21, 1993, ibid.

29. THE CONSTRUCTION OF EXILE

1. Contract in 1989: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570. Contract price, role of Saudi Overseas Development Fund: Okaz, June 25, 1992, translated and filed in the same case by Bin Laden attorneys.

2. Testimony of Jamal Al-Fadl, United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, S 98 Cr. 539, February 6, 2001.

3. Bosnia fundraiser: Arab News, July 6, 1992. Osama’s team to Bosnia: “Former Bin Laden ‘Bodyguard’ Discusses ‘Jihad’ in Bosnia, Somalia,” interview with Nasir Al-Bahri, Al-Quds Al- Arabi, March 24, 2005. “Gifts of charity…weapons”: Harmony AFGP 2002-003214–Statement 18, “Tragedy of Bosnia and Deceit of Saudi Arabia,” August 11, 1995.

4. Interview with a Bin Laden employee who asked to not be identified.

5. Al-Fadl testimony, February 6, 2001, op. cit.

6. “a new airport…joint venture”: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 136. “built the Port Sudan airport”: Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 122–23. “to the best… controlled by Osama”: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, op. cit.

7. “This project…participated in it”: Okaz, June 25, 1992.

8. “guest of honor”: “Part One of Series of Reports on Bin Laden’s Life in Sudan,” Al-Quds Al- Arabi, November 24, 2001. “To the best…the Sudan”: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, op. cit.

9. Bakr met with Osama during 1992: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. “accompanied by…set”: Letter to the author from TimothyJ. Finn, October 31, 2007. “almost nine”: Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 55. “Late 1992… States”: Affidavit of Tareq Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks.

10. “became clear…refuse to return”: Badeeb interview with Orbit Television circa late 2001, tape provided to the author by Badeeb, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc.

11. Interviews with two individuals who asked to not be identified. “I apologized…against them”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 55.

12. “He was out of touch…so important”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. Osama’s Sudan activity: Al-Fadl testimony, op. cit.; The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit., various testimony, pp. 126–32.

13. For example: “Global Network Provides Money, Haven,” by Steve Coll and Steve LeVine, Washington Post, August 3, 1993. Drawing upon LeVine’s visit to Khartoum, where he unsuccessfully sought an interview with Bin Laden at his villa, the story reported: “Today Bin Laden lives in exile in a posh neighborhood of Khartoum, Sudan, building roads and airports for Sudan’s new radical Islamic government, financing a lavish guest house for itinerant Arab veterans of the Afghan conflict and lecturing at times on revolutionary Islam, according to Sudanese businessmen, officials and diplomats.” The story also made particular reference to the government of Egypt’s antipathy toward Bin Laden and the exiled radicals he harbored in Sudan.

14. “Everything appeared…the regime”: Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, p. 119.

15. Ibid., p. 181.

16. Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, op. cit.

17. Ghalib’s Al-Taqwa account and all quotations from documents filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. Ghalib’s 1989 visit: See chapter 24. U.S. Treasury assessment: Letter from George B. Wolfe, Treasury deputy general counsel to Claude Nicati, office of the Swiss prosecutor general, January 4, 2002.

18. “Todeprive…companies”: Letter from Timothy J. Finn, op. cit. “Osama’s…Middle East”: Affidavit of Tareq Bin Laden, op. cit. “brother-to-brother”: Interview with Khashoggi, op. cit. “With God’s grace…go back”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 55.

19. Messages to the World, ibid.

20. “take this money…other relatives”: Interview with Abdulaziz Al-Gasim, February 8, 2005. Gasim said that in his work as an attorney, he had “seen legal papers, very secret, describing all this.” About $9.9 million and all Bakr quotations: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, op. cit. If, as court documents indicate, Osama owned about 2 percent of each of the two main family companies, and if the $10 million price of his shares reflected full value, this would mean the total market value of the Bin Laden enterprises in 1994 was approximately a combined $500 million.

21. Al Nadwah, February 20, 1994, translated and filed by Bin Laden attorneys, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.

22. Government announcement: Riyadh Daily, April 7, 1994. “never had access… control”: “Defendant Saudi Binladin Group’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Objections…Dated July 26, 2007,” In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.

23. Al-Fawwaz’s education: Al Majallah, March 14, 1999. Arrest, movements: Prosecutor’s closing statements, United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al., op. cit., May 1, 2001.