Saudi Arabia Golf Case Unveiled: Kingdom Secrets at Risk

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Saudi Arabian officials are in charge of spending large amounts of money from the United States. They have been seen with top U.S. business people and politicians while wearing their MAGA caps (showing support for former President Donald Trump). However, they have not said much about these connections at all.

A court case in California is making a change. LIV, a golf tour owned by Saudi Arabia, is going to court against the PGA Tour. The judge mentioned that because of Saudi Arabia’s direct connection with LIV, they can not use sovereign immunity which normally protects countries from U.S. courts.

Even though Saudi Arabia is not happy with it, a U.S. court recently made a decision that allows the lawyers of the PGA Tour to ask the government officials from Saudi Arabia lots of questions about some secrets that they have been protecting, such as information about deals connected to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for 2024. A judge in America named Beth Labson Freeman said that their laws about sovereign immunity do not apply here because this has something to do with business.

Yasir al Rumayyan was given the job of handling Saudi Arabia’s $600 billion + wealth by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to Labson Freeman, he is really busy with that job, and has a lot of work to do!

The PGA Tour claims that Mr. Rumayyan recruited players for the golf league, approved contracts and made decisions. Lawyers from Saudi Arabia say that this was just an investor’s actions, not of someone running it as a business.

The situation is important, not just for golf. Saudi Arabia has been trying to do business and be involved in politics with the U.S., but now it could be asked by a court to give more information on what it’s doing and show that it’s acting responsibly.

Last year, the Saudis made sure that American courts didn’t have any power over them. The Biden administration supported this decision. This was about a lawsuit regarding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi 2 years ago in 2018. U.S. intelligence believed that the prince’s helpers were responsible for killing him, creating tension between the prince and Mr. Biden’s government.

International laws usually stop a country’s government and leaders from being judged in another country. However, Congress made an exception for businesses by changing the rule in 1976.

The PGA Tour (Professional Golf Association) said on Friday that Saudi Arabia and the Prince in charge keep changing their mind about if they should have special protection from lawsuits. People who are not fans of what’s happening in Saudi Arabia say that the country may be in big legal trouble.

Donald Baker, a lawyer who used to work at the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said that the U.S courts could really affect how things go with the LIV golf tour and tournaments.

Mr. Baker believes the case might make a federal court in California consider asking questions to members of the Saudi royal family. He said if the court wants to figure out whether or not other deals between the government of Saudi Arabia and United States are allowed to be looked into outside of America, they should look at each case separately.

Sarah Leah Whitson, who is the head of an organization created by Khashoggi, which supports democracy in the Arab world says that: “The rulers don’t need to worry about anyone questioning their financial decisions and hold them accountable, because they have something called sovereign immunity. This means that no one can ever sue them or demand for them to follow laws related to finance.”

The second season of the professional golf tour that is backed by Saudi Arabia is popular because it has a motto of “Golf, but louder” and involves Trump courses, large prize purses and a competition with the PGA Tour. This year, three LIV tournaments will be held on Trump courses and the details about how much money was paid for them is not known yet.

The PGA Tour is being sued by the LIV players. The evidence reveals that a Saudi Arabian government organization called the sovereign wealth fund owns 93% of the LIV. Nobody from either the group representing Saudi Arabia or the LIV answered requests for comment when asked by The Associated Press.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has been in charge for 8 years and his son, Prince Mohammed, is now using the kingdom’s wealth fund to invest inside and outside Saudi Arabia. The goal is to make Saudi Arabia depend less on its oil money.

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Prince Mohammed and al Rumayyan, have invested more than 30 billion dollars into famous companies like UBER, Lucid (company which makes electric cars), Paypal, Costco, etc. The investment also strengthened the connection between the Saudis and the Trump family since they used golf courses owned by them and 2 billion dollars were sent to an investment firm owned by Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of Donald Trump.

Rumayyan is involved with Uber and enjoys playing golf with Trump. Elon Musk found himself in the middle of one of his biggest tweet storms and a court case because he had tweeted about the possible deal from Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund that wanted to take Tesla private.

The Saudi government has been investing a ton in sports. This includes creating the LIV golf tour, purchasing the Newcastle United soccer team in England’s Premier League, racing Formula One vehicles, and having horse races with record-breaking prize money. Other events like snooker, boxing and chess are also being held by the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia is presenting itself as a modern and friendly government. However, human rights groups say the kingdom is trying to ignore bad actions like the killing of journalist Khashoggi, the arrest of activists, and their failed war in Yemen. Some people in the US even think Saudi Arabia’s past deals with President Trump and Jared Kushner are helping only one side of the political debate.

The people of the kingdom are trying to change how they are seen by the public. To do this, they are using sport as a way to grab people’s attention and expose more people to their culture. Kristian Ulrichsen, an expert on Middle Eastern cultures, explains that these changes could help create some strong connections with people.

Saudi Arabia’s government recently made sure they won’t be involved in running the Newcastle United soccer team, even though one of their citizens is part of its management. But some people disagreed and wanted the deal to be taken a closer look at based on a California court ruling.

People who criticize Saudi Arabia feel like the country gave up its right to avoid being taken to court when it submitted documents for a different legal case. This was a case involving a former high-ranking intelligence official from Saudi Arabia, but the United States decided not to take it further because it could reveal national security secrets.

The LIV players and the Saudi Government have sued the PGA, saying that their business is being hurt by unfair practices. The PGA lawyers disagree and say it’s actually the reputation of Saudi Arabia and its leader that are causing problems.