Saudi billionaire playboy Adnan Khashoggi - once the world's richest arms dealer who married twice but also kept ELEVEN 'pleasure wives' - dies aged 82 after battling Parkinson's
Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi died peacefully today aged 82 in LondonIn the early 1980s he was one of the world's richest men with $4billion fortune
He most famously brokered arms deals between US firms and Saudi ArabiaThe maverick married twice but entertained up to 11 so-called 'pleasure wives' By CHARLIE MOORE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:09 EDT, 6 June 2017 | UPDATED: 05:27 EDT, 7 June 2017
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Flamboyant arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who conducted his businesses deals at lavish champagne parties, has died at the age of 82
Flamboyant arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who conducted his businesses deals at lavish champagne parties, has died at the age of 82.
The Saudi was worth £2.4billion at the peak of his wealth in the 1970s and was often said to be the richest man in the world.
He was the most prolific weapons dealer of his era who brokered deals with governments, arms manufacturers and private clients across the globe.
While his rivals carried out business in secret, Khashoggi did deals at champagne and caviar parties that lasted for days, often in the company of Hollywood stars.
On one occasion, the Stanford-educated magnate held a party in Istanbul for actress Liz Taylor after her cancer operation, while reportedly hiring rock band Queen to play at another bash.
Legend has it that he spent £150,000 a day at the height of his wealth, before he was implicated in the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s.
Khashoggi was said to have brokered a secret sale of weapons by the US government to Iran when it was supposed to be under an arms embargo.
Ronald Reagan’s administration triggered the sale as part of a complex deal that led Iran to release US hostages and fund the Contra rebellion in Nicaragua on behalf of the US.
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Roxy founder Jill Dodd (left) says she was the pleasure wife of notorious billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (right, in an undated photo)
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Chateau Louis XIII looks over the Bay of Cannes. It was once owned by Adnan Khashoggi
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Khashoggi's yacht, the 280-foot Nabila, pictured in 1983 in The Harbour Of Monaco
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Billionaires Soraya and Adnan Khashoggi at the wedding of their daughter Nabila in 1992
Reagan was forced to apologise when the scandal became public in 1987.
His empire unravelled amid a series of court cases and financial difficulties forced him to sell some of his assets, including his superyacht, Nabila, which eventually ended up in the hands of Donald Trump.
Khashoggi, who was born in Mecca to the Saudi king’s personal doctor Muhammad Khashoggi, married Sandra Daly, a 20-year-old English woman who converted to Islam and took the name Soraya.
They had five children and Soraya gave birth to another daughter, Petrina Khashoggi, shortly after the couple divorced.
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Adnan Khashoggi with his daughter Nabila (left) and third wife Shahpari (right) as they watched Nabila's London acting debut
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Adnan and his wife Lamia enjoyed attending several film premiers throughout their time together
Scandal: The Iran Contra affair
Khashoggi was said to have brokered a secret sale of weapons by the US government to Iran when it was supposed to be under an arms embargo.
Ronald Reagan’s administration triggered the sale as part of a complex deal that led Iran to release US hostages and fund the Contra rebellion in Nicaragua on behalf of the US.
Reagan was forced to apologise when the scandal became public in 1987.
In the same year, Khashoggi appeared on the front cover of Time magazine below the headline: ‘Those Shadowy Arms Traders: Adnan Khashoggi’s High Life and Flashy Deals’.
A year later he was arrested in Switzerland accused of concealing funds. He was extradited to the US on charges of racketeering and fraud, but later cleared by a Federal jury.
But the damage to his reputation was done and his empire began to unravel as further court cases against him followed.
However, a DNA test carried out when Petrina reached 18 revealed that she was the love-child of Jonathan Aitken, the ex-Conservative minister who was jailed for perjury in a libel case.
Khashoggi, who married again and had a son, was no stranger to infidelities himself. He freely admitted his penchant for prostitutes and was said to have entertained 11 ‘pleasure wives’ on his countless yachts and at numerous holiday homes.
Mr Aitken, now 74, remained friends with Khashoggi and saw him shortly before his death. He said last night: ‘He made big mistakes but he was a good man.’
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Adnan Khashoggi, his wife, Lamia Khashoggi (L) and Nabila Khashoggi (right), attending the 1988 Monaco Red Cross ball
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Dodi Fayed, who had a romantic relationship with Diana Prince of Wales, with his mother Samira Khashoggi who is Adnan's sister
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Soraya Khashoggi was one of the most beautiful, certainly the most intriguing and, famously, one of the richest women of her generation
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Khashoggi (pictured) welcomed Dodd and her friend aboard and invited them to 'dress for dinner' before he led them to a huge walk-in closet filled with designer dresses
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Dodd is a former model, who was featured in the pages of French Vogue, before she joined the billionaire's harem
Soraya Khashoggi's love child
Petrina Khashoggi is the love child of Soraya and disgraced Tory minister Jonathan Aitken.
Soraya divorced wealthy arms dealer Adnan soon after she was born, and kept the true father’s identity a secret.
Her daughter grew up fantasising that he would be a ‘perfect’ and exciting man, perhaps a film star, war hero or adventurer.
Petrina Khashoggi (left), is the love child of Soraya and disgraced Tory minister Jonathan Aitken
It was only when Miss Khashoggi was 16 and a mutual friend commented on the similarity between her and Alexandra that she began to suspect the truth.
Two years later it was confirmed after Aitken took a DNA test.
The revelation came shortly before he was jailed for perjury after lying over who had paid his bill at the Ritz hotel in Paris.
Miss Khashoggi described the discovery as ‘overwhelming’.
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Soraya Khashoggi, wife of Saudi multi-billionaire, Adnan Khashoggi |
