With Crown Prince Responsible For Khashoggi Killing, Where Does That Leave Golf Saudi And The Public Investment Fund?

In the worst kept secret on earth, a declassified U.S. intelligence report holds Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

While the Biden administration is thus far not directing penalizing the Crown Prince, the New York Times Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger write that “the release of the report signaled that President Biden, unlike his predecessor, would not set aside the killing of Mr. Khashoggi and that his administration intended to try to isolate the crown prince.”

The isolation effect could have an impact on the Crown Prince’s Golf Saudi and the Public Investment Fund under his control (also said to be a primary backer of the proposed Premier Golf League among many investments).

Golf.com’s Michael Arkush recently summed up Golf Saudi’s hopes in a story prompted by the recent announcement of a Jack Nicklaus design in Saudi Arabia, a company that part of Golf.com’s parent company 8 a.m. Golf.

The golf push is part of a larger “Vision 2030” strategy, championed by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; that initiative is aimed, in part, at bolstering the kingdom’s entertainment and tourism offerings as the nation simultaneously implements social reform.

On the golf front, thinking big means bringing in established designers.

“Every single golf course we are going to build from now on is going to have to be a branded name,” Majed Al Sorour, the CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, said in an interview. “All of the great designers are going to be part of the development in the kingdom.”

So far, the list includes two legendary major winners in Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. 

Golf Saudi also hosts an annual European Tour stop said to be the vision of bin Salman.

As for the Public Investment Fund with tentacles in several major American companies and the proposed Premier Golf League, it could be vulnerable because of direct ties to the crime.

From CNBC’s Emily DeCiccio report:

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, is chaired by MBS. It appears to have played a role in purchasing the aircraft that ferried Khashoggi’s killers to Turkey, where the murder occurred.

“If this is the case, it could become a target for American human rights sanctions,” according to Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of State. That could, in turn, “create an economic earthquake,” he said. 

“If the United States determines that the Khashoggi killing was a targeted human rights violation, then the perpetrators and backers of that killing could be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act,” Rubin said. 

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorizes the president to impose economic sanctions, freeze any U.S. assets, and deny entry into the U.S. to any foreign person who has engaged in human rights abuse or corruption, while prohibiting Americans from doing business with him or her. The Magnitsky Act has been used against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cronies. Putin called it, “A purely political, unfriendly act.”