Talk:Ghaith Pharaon/Archives/2015

Pharaon and Arbusto

The article originally stated:

 Pharaon was a major investor in Arbusto Energy, former President George W. Bush's first business venture. After several attempts, Arbusto Energy emerged in 1986 as Harken Energy Corporation, with George W. Bush prominently on the board of directors.[5] In 1987, the Harken Energy was desperate for money, and a bank that was half-owned by Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) gave Harken a $25 million loan. Another Saudi investor and Pharaon partner is Abdullah Bakhsh, who joined the board of directors as a part of the deal. Bakhsh's banker was Khalid bin Mahfouz, who had his own shares in Arbusto/Harken, via the inheritance of Salem Bin Laden.

Most of this is incorrect or unsourced.

• Pharaon did not invest in Arbusto. I have looked hard and there is no source that says this. Craig Unger does not say this. Jonathan Beaty does not say this. No one says this.
• The implication that Arbusto was bought directly by Harken is not correct. Arbusto merged with Spectrum 7 in 1984, and in 1986 Spectrum 7 was bought by Harken. I don't understand what "several attempts" means here.
• The whole long string of statements after this is totally unsourced. Who says Harken was desperate for money in 1987? What was the bank "half owned by BCCI"? What does all this have to do with Pharaon? Abdullah Taha Bakhsh may have bought shares in Harken, but he was not on the board; Talat Othman was on the board. I would not be surprised if Abdullah Taha Bakhsh had money in Khalid bin Mahfouz's bank: the National Commercial Bank was for many years the only private Saudi owned bank in Saudi Arabia. So what?
• The claim that Mahfouz had shares in Harken "via the inheritance of Salem Bin Laden" is not true, because Salem bin Laden did not have shares in Arbusto. Craig Unger is quite clear on this, and no one has come up with anything that says otherwise.

Because of these multiple flaws, I am simply deleting the whole paragraph. There are other errors in the article. I will leave comments here as I correct them. Rgr09 (talk) 08:24, 22 October 2015 (UTC)

Pharaon and James Bath

James Bath did not own any banks in Georgia. Changed this to note that Pharaon purchased the National Bank of Georgia from owner Bert Lance. Pharaon purchased this bank on behalf of BCCI, and this is one reason that criminal charges were brought against him. There is actually no explanation of how Pharaon broke the law anywhere in the article. May try to fix this in the coming months. Rgr09 (talk) 09:04, 22 October 2015 (UTC)

New lead

I rewrote the lead to provide a better source and to explain what Pharaon was charged with. Rgr09 (talk) 15:29, 24 October 2015 (UTC)