Samer Foz Explained

Samer Foz
Native Name:سامر فوز
Native Name Lang:ar
Other Names:Samir Foz/Fawz; Samer Zuhair Foz; Samer Foz bin Zuhair
Birth Date:20 May 1973
Birth Place:Latakia, Syria
Nationality:Syrian
Citizenship:Syria
Turkey
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Known For:Aman Group; Marota City
Relatives:Amer Foz (brother)
Husen Foz (brother)

Samer Foz (; born May 20, 1973), also known as Samer Zuhair Foz, is a Syrian businessman with close ties to the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

Business activities

He is the Chairman and General Manager of Aman Holding, which was formerly known as the Aman Group,[1] which owns the Four Seasons Hotel Damascus. The company acquired the stake of Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in the hotel during his detention at the Ritz Carlton amid the Saudi purge.[2] The Syrian government holds the second largest stakeholder in the hotel.[3] [4] In August 2017, Aman Group announced a partnership with Damascus governorate, under its company Damascus Cham Holding, in building a luxury development called Marota City in the Basateen al-Razi area in the Mezzeh district of Damascus. In November 2017, Damascus Cham Holding granted Aman Group the right to develop real estate projects worth $312m as part of the project.[5]

His business interests significantly expanded during the Syrian civil war into aviation, the cable industry, steel,[6] sugar, car assembly and distribution, hotel management, real estate development, pharmaceuticals and banking.[7]

Controversies

Sanctions

He is sanctioned by the European Union and US Treasury [8] [9] for having "leveraged the atrocities of the Syrian conflict into a profit-generating enterprise [and being] directly supporting the murderous Assad regime and building luxury developments on land stolen from those fleeing his brutality."[10]

Facilitation of trade with ISIS

Samer Foz reportedly transported grain from Syrian government-controlled areas to territory controlled by ISIS.[11] According to other reports, he also moved wheat from ISIS-controlled areas through Turkey into Syrian regime-controlled territory.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: SAMER FOZ ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database . 2022-07-04 . offshoreleaks.icij.org.
  2. News: 2019-10-03 . The men making a fortune from Syria's war . Financial Times . 2022-07-05.
  3. Web site: Rosenthal . Victoria . Saudi Prince Alwaleed sells Four Seasons Hotel Damascus stake . 26 May 2019 . Hotel Management.
  4. News: Foroohar . Kambiz . How Assad's Allies Got $18 Million From the UN . 26 May 2019 . Bloomberg . August 2017 .
  5. Book: Valeria Talbot . Rebuilding Syria: The Middle East's Next Power Game? . 2019 . Ledizioni . Eugenio Dacrema . 978-88-5526-058-9 . OAPEN . 42 . 1229501937.
  6. News: Journal . Sune Engel Rasmussen and Nazih Osseiran Photographs by Youssef Badawi/EPA for The Wall Street . 2018-08-12 . Out of Syria's Chaos, a Tycoon Builds a Fortune . en-US . Wall Street Journal . 2022-07-05 . 0099-9660.
  7. Book: Valeria Talbot . Rebuilding Syria: The Middle East's Next Power Game? . 2019 . Ledizioni . Eugenio Dacrema . 978-88-5526-058-9 . OAPEN . 1229501937.
  8. News: 2019-06-11 . US Treasury freezes assets of Syrian millionaire . Financial Times . 2022-07-04.
  9. News: 2019-06-11 . Luxury Builder for Assad's Regime Is Hit With U.S. Sanctions . en . Bloomberg.com . 2022-07-04.
  10. Web site: Treasury Designates Syrian Oligarch Samer Foz and His Luxury Reconstruction Business Empire . 2022-07-04 . U.S. Department of the Treasury . en.
  11. News: Rasmussen . Sune Engel . 2019-01-21 . EU Sanctions Leading Syrian Businessman . en-US . Wall Street Journal . 2022-07-05 . 0099-9660.