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and was involved in the scandal at Chevy Chase Bank in DC? Both involved Saudi money as I recall. The "scandal" may have been killed as to print/media records, but the American Bank takeover attempt by Lance and his portion of the Saudi's money was an SEC event for a number of years.
In addition to Riggs Bank (CEO for 20 years ending 2001), Allbritton owns nine ABC affiliates; the callsign of Washington, D.C. station WJLA-TV contains his initials. He used to own The Washington Star. Still owns a number of other papers. Personal friend of the Reagans and Bushes. Owns racehorses. Major player at the Alfalfa Club.
Allbritton developed a business relationship with brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in the mid-1990s, and traveled to Chile on multiple occasions during that time period. Apparently, Riggs bank opened 8 private accounts for the despot, which held between $4- and $8 million.
Wife: Barbara Jean Balfanz
Son: Robert Lewis Allbritton (b. 1969)(current CEO of Riggs)
Law School: JD, Baylor University (1949)
Allbritton Communications
Riggs National
The Washington Star Publisher, 1974-78
George Bush Presidential Library Trustee
Alfalfa Club 1977
Council on Foreign Relations
Freemasonry
The public revelations concerning the bank’s relationship with Saudi Arabia came mainly through the publication of a Newsweek article on December 2, 2002 (“The Saudi Money Trail”). The news magazine reported that in January 2000, two of the hijackers who were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon—Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar—received monetary aid and other assistance from Omar al-Bayoumi.
Alhazmi and Almihdhar are at the center of suspicions of US government complicity in the 9/11 attacks—and for good reason. The CIA had identified the two as early as January 2000 as Al Qaeda operatives, and the Washington Post reported in June 2002 that the FBI also knew of the two from January of 2000. Yet they were allowed to enter the US and live openly in San Diego for 18 months prior to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Newsweek reported in September 2002 that the roommate of Alhazmi and Almihdhar in San Diego was an FBI informant!
According to the December 2002 Newsweek article on Riggs Bank, al-Bayoumi “apparently did work for Dallah Avco, an aviation-services company with extensive contracts with the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, headed by Prince Sultan, the father of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar. According to informed sources, some federal investigators suspect that al-Bayoumi could have been an advance man for the 9/11 hijackers, sent by Al Qaeda to assist the plot that ultimately claimed 3,000 lives.”
Al-Bayoumi may have been receiving assistance in his activities from sections of the Saudi royal family. The Newsweek article states: “About two months after al-Bayoumi began aiding Alhazmi and Almihdhar, Newsweek has learned, al-Bayoumi’s wife began receiving regular stipends, often monthly and usually around $2,000 and totaling tens of thousands of dollars. The money came in the form of cashier’s checks, purchased from Washington’s Riggs Bank by Princess Haifa bin Faisal, the daughter of the late King Faisal and wife of Prince Bandar, the Saudi envoy who is a prominent Washington figure and personal friend of the Bush family. The checks were sent to a woman named Majeda Ibrahin Dweikat, who in turn signed over many of them to al-Bayoumi’s wife...”
Dweikat’s husband, Osama Basnan, is reported to be a sympathizer of Al Qaeda and is known to have had friendly relations with the two hijackers, Alhazmi and Almihdhar.
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