PARTY PRINCE
Saudi heir’s $50M private island blowout revealed
The models arrived by the literal boatload.
Some 150 beautiful women, flown in from Brazil, Russia and elsewhere, were ferried to a private island in the Maldives to party with just a “few dozen” men from the Middle East.
The host was Mohammed bin Salman, then the 29-year-old Saudi crown prince and the country’s defense minister. Today he is the deputy prime minister, heir to the throne and among the most powerful people in the region. He is also among the wealthiest. And back in July 2015, he was ready to throw a massive blowout that was scheduled to last for nearly a month.
The venue was Velaa, a private island in the Maldives “designed to be one of the world’s most luxurious and expensive destinations.”
The island contained some four dozen private villas, many built on stilts overlooking the blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The quarters had private decks and swimming pools. Each came with its own butler. There was even a snow machine so visitors could frolic in an artificial blizzard on the tropical beach.
“It was a vacation fit for a prince,” write Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck in their book, “Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power” (out today from Hachette, inset above right).
And because Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, had rented out the entire island, he and his entourage had the place to themselves.
The cost was a whopping $50 million, according to the book. Each of the resort’s more than 300 staffers would get a $5,000 bonus on top of what would be generous cash tips. Those same workers usually earned just $1,000 to $1,200 a month.
The money was well-spent, because MBS and his crew valued privacy above all. He was desperate to keep the party out of the newspapers.
“Mohammed knew that Saudi Arabia’s young people were tired of decades of obscene spending by the ruling family and frustrated by online accounts of princes’ ostentatious homes, spending sprees at Harrods, and sports cars racing through the streets of [London’s] Mayfair,” the authors write.
To ensure secrecy, the staffers were not allowed to bring smartphones on the island. They could only bring a “candy bar” style Nokia 3310 for communication purposes. Two employees were fired for breaking the rule.
Some staffers were charged with greeting the arriving models. As the boats pulled up to the island’s dock, the women were whisked away via golf cart to a medical facility where they were tested for STDs.
“Only after the testing was done and the women had settled into their villas did the seaplanes carrying Mohammed bin Salman and his friends arrive,” write the authors, two Wall Street Journal reporters who spent years investigating the monarch.
For entertainment, MBS hired big names from around the world, including Pitbull, “Gangnam Style” Korean rapper Psy and DJ Afrojack.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira were also set to perform, according to Private Island News.
The men slept most of the day. But as the sun set, they emerged, ready to party.
DJs and bands played by a dance floor overlooking a pool, while other smaller acts played on stages scattered across the island.
One night, MBS got so excited during a performance by the stadium-filling Afrojack that he climbed onstage.
“The men and models cheered when Mohammed took over the DJ table and started playing records of his choice while Afrojack skulked away muttering, careful to curse out loud only when he was out of the prince’s earshot,” the book says.
The parties would often go until dawn.
In some cases, MBS relied on his own staff — such as when it came to serving alcohol, which is banned in Saudi Arabia. The Velaa staff was kept on the periphery, “because the Saudis didn’t want to be seen drinking by residents of another Muslim country.”
Less than a week into the bacchanal, however, word leaked of MBS’s presence to a local publication. The news was soon picked up elsewhere.
MBS quickly left. The women were gone soon after.
The incident did not seem to teach the royal a lesson about keeping a low profile. If anything, it only reinforced the importance of privacy.
MBS soon purchased the Serene, a 439-foot superyacht that takes luxury to an extreme level.
The crown prince paid more than $500 million for the ship to the Russian vodka mogul who owned it — about double the original cost.
With some 48,000 square feet, it has more space than Grand Central’s concourse. It came equipped with two helipads, a submarine dock, an underwater viewing room, a Jacuzzi, a movie theater and a sweeping spiral staircase overlooking a grand piano.
“It was sleek and luxurious, perfect for hosting VIPs, but it could also transform into a party palace for nights with close friends,” the authors write.
For relaxing on dry land, MBS’s “team also bought a garish French chateau near Versailles — with fountains, stately grounds and even a moat — for more than $300 million.”
Perhaps the crown prince’s excessive spending was a reaction to his modest (by Saudi royal standards) upbringing. According to the book, it was money, or lack of it, that shaped MBS as a child.
MBS is the eighth child of King Salman and the first of his mother, the king’s third wife. As a youngster, he loved scuba diving, fast food and video games, including the “Age of Empires” series.
Unlike some of his siblings, MBS did not go abroad to England or France for schooling. He stayed in Saudi Arabia, and that presence helped him learn “in great depth about the frailties of his rivals within the royal family,” per “Blood and Oil.”
When he was 15, he learned from a cousin that his father had “not amassed a serious fortune,” despite decades in office, and had become “dangerously indebted to princes and businessmen.”
“It was the first shock and challenge that I faced in my life,” he would later say.
That financial anxiety made MBS start looking for ways to earn money. He approached his father with an unusual request for a prince: He wanted to open a store. His father just laughed.
Soon, however, he would be making real money. By 16, he had amassed about $100,000 from selling the gold coins and luxury watches given as gifts to him by his wealthy family. He began trading stocks.
He later started launching companies of his own. He founded a trash-collection business and a group of real estate companies. He could often be ruthless. In one oft-told legend, he sent a bullet to a “land official who had declined to give him the title to a plot he demanded,” the authors write. The move earned him the nickname Father of the Bullet.
His government connections also helped line his pockets. He and other royals were implicated in insider trading after regulators discovered they were buying big into companies just before newsworthy announcements.
Saudi Arabia has, since its founding, been ruled by a sprawling group of royals who have had to share power and build consensus. Often, various factions disagree. But in his rise to power, MBS proved unsparing in his vanquishing any potential opposition and his consolidation of power. He ultimately leapfrogged over his cousin to become the crown prince, and a few months later had numerous royals jailed in a 2017 “corruption” purge.
Said to be close to his father, the prince has become Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler. He was the force behind many of the country’s recent reforms, including a 2017 edict allowing women to drive. And because of his youth, his influence (and lavish spending) is likely to be felt for a long time to come.
“Forget the critics, [his team] said. Mohammed had many years to prove his vision,” the authors write. “He wasn’t even king yet. His legacy might come in 10, 20, even 30 years."
Some staffers were charged with greeting the arriving models. As the boats pulled up to the island’s dock, the women were whisked away via golf cart to a medical facility where they were tested for STDs.