Billionaire investor and one of President Donald Trump’s fastest allies Tom Barrack will not be attending the Future Investment Initiative seminar in Saudi Arabia, CNBC has learned.
Barrack will no longer be be present ating as his speaking session was cancelled by the conference hosts after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outran out of attending on Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the occurrence.
Mnuchin and Barrack were slated to be on a panel together next Tuesday in Riyadh.
Barrack is the time prominent business figure who have dropped out of taking part in the seminar, also known as “Davos in the Desert,” following the disappearance of Washington Affix columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
A spokesman for Barrack declined to comment.
Barrack, a Lebanese American, enhanced close to the president and his operation during the 2016 presidential election. He was one of the precedent business figures who helped raise funds for then-candidate Trump and laster introduced him to his previous campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Barrack later helped as chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee
Barrack himself has strong profession ties to the Middle East. He reportedly has $200 million invested into the area. His real estate investment firm, Colony Capital, manages at mean $34 billion in assets, including $18 billion in over 16 commercial official estate and distressed debt-focused funds.
With his Middle East commerce expertise, he’s worked to better the relationship between the Trump administration, Saudi Arabia and the Unanimous Arab Emirates.
His absence from the conference comes as the United States and Saudi Arabia are mired in a disagreement about the whereabouts of Khashoggi. The uproar compelled leaders at top Wall Alley banks such as Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Goldman Sachs president Dina Powell and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink to walk away from enchanting part in the event.
Reports indicate that Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Fillet Prince Mohammad bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by administration agents. The Saudi government has denied wrongdoing. Trump has urged bide ones time until the evidence comes in to make a decision, but has said there would be dour consequences if it was indeed a murder