Difference between revisions of "Ziad Abdelnour"
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
|employment= | |employment= | ||
}} | }} | ||
| − | '''Ziad Khalil Abdelnour''' is a [[Lebanon]]-born [[US|American]] [[financier]] who reached an out of court settlement with the [[SEC]] in 2013 for advertising/solicitation after he published an informational blog post on his Blackhawk Partners website that saw him fined $25,000 and banned from dealing in securities for 5 years. He continues to work for [[ Blackhawk Partners]], which he started in 2006 a private equity and physical commodities trading firm based out of New York City, Founder & President of the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon (USCFL), Founder & Chairman of the Financial Policy Council, Member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum and Former President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America. | + | '''Ziad Khalil Abdelnour''' is a [[Lebanon]]-born [[US|American]] [[financier]] who reached an out of court settlement with the [[SEC]] in 2013 for advertising/solicitation after he published an informational blog post on his Blackhawk Partners website that saw him fined $25,000 and banned from dealing in securities for 5 years. He continues to work for [[ Blackhawk Partners]], which he started in 2006 a private equity and physical commodities trading firm based out of New York City, Founder & President of the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon (USCFL), Founder & Chairman of the Financial Policy Council<ref>http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/</ref>, Member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum and Former President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America. |
== Background == | == Background == | ||
| Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
In the settlement, the SEC determined that he "knew or recklessly disregarded that the representations he made about the private placement programs on Blackhawk's website and in documents he provided to potential investors were false."<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2013/33-9402.pdf SEC v/s Ziad Abdelnour]</ref> In a private statement, Abdelnour emphatically stated that he never put anyone of his clients or partners at risk and has nothing to hide. He stated that no money was moved, no trade was done, and no one made or lost money, and that the blog was simply for educational purposes. | In the settlement, the SEC determined that he "knew or recklessly disregarded that the representations he made about the private placement programs on Blackhawk's website and in documents he provided to potential investors were false."<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2013/33-9402.pdf SEC v/s Ziad Abdelnour]</ref> In a private statement, Abdelnour emphatically stated that he never put anyone of his clients or partners at risk and has nothing to hide. He stated that no money was moved, no trade was done, and no one made or lost money, and that the blog was simply for educational purposes. | ||
| − | Opinion columnist, [[Matt Levine]] writing in '' | + | Opinion columnist, [[Matt Levine]] writing in ''Deal breaker'' magazine remarked that "a $25,000 fine is I guess a little harsh for a scam that didn’t actually hurt anyone, but at the same time it’s a little mild for an intentionally scammy effort to steal millions of dollars, failed or not."<ref name=dealbreaker>{{cite web|title=Investment In Paranoid Fantasy |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110213035/http:/dealbreaker.com/2013/05/investment-in-paranoid-fantasy-of-massive-global-conspiracy-less-lucrative-than-promised/|website= - Dealbreaker. Archived on December 29, 2014.}}</ref> |
===Violation of Securities & Exchange act=== | ===Violation of Securities & Exchange act=== | ||
| Line 57: | Line 57: | ||
== Activities == | == Activities == | ||
| − | Ziad Abdelnour is chairman and a founding member of the [[United States Committee for a Free Lebanon]], an activist organization lobbying the United States government to oppose Syria's influence in Lebanon, supporting the Syria Accountability Act<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Ending-Syrias-Occupation-Lebanon-U-S/dp/0970148402 Ending Syria’s Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S Role] </ref>. He supported the neoconservative [[Middle East Forum]], co-authoring in 2000 a Forum study whose signatories included later [[George W. Bush]] administration officials [[Paula Dobriansky]] and [[Douglas Feith]]. | + | Ziad Khalil Abdelnour is chairman and a founding member of the [[United States Committee for a Free Lebanon]], an activist organization lobbying the United States government to oppose Syria's influence in Lebanon, supporting the Syria Accountability Act<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Ending-Syrias-Occupation-Lebanon-U-S/dp/0970148402 Ending Syria’s Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S Role] </ref>. He supported the neoconservative [[Middle East Forum]], co-authoring in 2000 a Forum study whose signatories included later [[George W. Bush]] administration officials [[Paula Dobriansky]] and [[Douglas Feith]]. |
"In 2000, he was an author of a policy paper advocating the removal of the Syrians from Lebanon that was endorsed by a number of people with close ties to Bush advisers, including [[Richard N. Perle]], a [[Reagan]] administration [[assistant secretary of defense]]; [[Douglas J. Feith]], one of the architects of the plan to invade Iraq; and [[David Wurmser]], adviser to [[US Vice President|Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]] on the Middle East."<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/business/worldbusiness/01wall.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&adxnnlx=1154455370-sCKn8yFUsT7Aa+FIOYZXGA</ref> | "In 2000, he was an author of a policy paper advocating the removal of the Syrians from Lebanon that was endorsed by a number of people with close ties to Bush advisers, including [[Richard N. Perle]], a [[Reagan]] administration [[assistant secretary of defense]]; [[Douglas J. Feith]], one of the architects of the plan to invade Iraq; and [[David Wurmser]], adviser to [[US Vice President|Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]] on the Middle East."<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/business/worldbusiness/01wall.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&adxnnlx=1154455370-sCKn8yFUsT7Aa+FIOYZXGA</ref> | ||
| Line 106: | Line 106: | ||
==Cover-up== | ==Cover-up== | ||
| − | Ziad Abdelnour's Wikipedia page was deleted 4 times, including 3 times in December 2016.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Ziad_K._Abdelnour</ref> | + | Ziad Khalil Abdelnour's Wikipedia page was deleted 4 times, including 3 times in December 2016.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Ziad_K._Abdelnour</ref> |
==Awards== | ==Awards== | ||
| − | In 2016, Ziad Abdelnour was named one of the “500 Most Influential CEO in the world” from Richtopia. Richtopia is a website whose mission is to enrich peoples lives using expert information. Their ultimate vision is in alignment with the United Nations Development Programme‘s (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The website counts on input and articles from financial and entrepreneurial experts. The list compiles influential executives who excel at being pro-active. | + | In 2016, Ziad Khalil Abdelnour was named one of the “500 Most Influential CEO in the world” from Richtopia. Richtopia is a website whose mission is to enrich peoples lives using expert information. Their ultimate vision is in alignment with the United Nations Development Programme‘s (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The website counts on input and articles from financial and entrepreneurial experts. The list compiles influential executives who excel at being pro-active. |
In 2017, Abdelnour received an award as a Global Shaper<ref>https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/500-ceos</ref> from the World Economic Forum. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. | In 2017, Abdelnour received an award as a Global Shaper<ref>https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/500-ceos</ref> from the World Economic Forum. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. | ||
Revision as of 10:02, 26 October 2019
 Ziad Abdelnour          (Author, Wall Street Financier) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1960-12-03 Beirut, Lebanon |
| Nationality | Lebanese, American |
| Alma mater | American University of Beirut, Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Author, Wall Street Financier, CEO, influencer |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Criminal charge | Violation of Sections 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act, Violation of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act |
| Out of court settlement | $25000 fine, 5 year ban from dealing in securities in 2013 |
| Awards | 500 Most Influential CEO in the world, Global Shaper[1] |
| Founder of | United States Committee for a Free Lebanon |
| Relatives | Salem Abdelnour |
President & Chief Executive Officer
Physical Commodities Trading/Private Equity, A neoconservative financier who reached an out of court settlement with SEC for publishing an informational blog post on his Blackhawk Partners company website talking about the mechanisms of private placement issues and how they work . | |
Ziad Khalil Abdelnour is a Lebanon-born American financier who reached an out of court settlement with the SEC in 2013 for advertising/solicitation after he published an informational blog post on his Blackhawk Partners website that saw him fined $25,000 and banned from dealing in securities for 5 years. He continues to work for Blackhawk Partners, which he started in 2006 a private equity and physical commodities trading firm based out of New York City, Founder & President of the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon (USCFL), Founder & Chairman of the Financial Policy Council[2], Member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum and Former President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America.
Contents
Background
Ziad Khalil Abdelnour is the son of Lebanese industrialist and former MP Khalil Abdelnour (1992-2000) and the nephew of former Lebanese financier and MP Salem Abdelnour (1960-1964 and 1972-1992)[3] In 1984 he graduated from the Wharton School of Finance.
Career
In 1995, Ziad Khalil Abdelnour was a partner with Continuum Capital, a privately held investment and merchant banking firm in New York City.[4] He worked[When?] as an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert[5] where he was a high yield bond trader under Michael Milken.
Abdelnour has spoken on TV[6] and has written on "wealth creation", physical commodities trading and Middle East geo-political analysis at industry conferences in USA.[7][8][9]
Connections
Ziad Khalil Abdelnour had close ties to the US Neoconservative network, but was charged by the SEC, indicating that he fell out of favour. He agreed to a cease and desist order which banned him from the securities industry for 5 years. Reporting on this settlement, Dealbreaker magazine remarked that Abdelnour used to be a prominent "junk bond salesman during Michael Milken’s glory days... so he’s not bad all the time, whatever he’s up to these days."[10] In 2016, Richtopia ranked him as one of "The 500 Most Influential CEOs".[11]
Blackhawk Partners
In 2006, after a 22-year career on Wall Street[12] he founded Blackhawk Partners, which appeared "geared towards high net worth individuals or entities, requiring a minimum investment ranging from $10 million to $100 million, and running in duration from one day to forty weeks."[10] For an eighteen month period beginning in September 2009 the firm offered in a web posting investments in prime bank instruments that were claimed to yield returns of as much as 600% without risk.[13] Such remarkable offers (up to 100% in one day!) did not attract any investors but did attract the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which began an investigation and subsequent lawsuit.
SEC case settlement
In 2011, Abdelnour was targeted by the SEC for advertising/solicitation after he published an informational blog post on his Blackhawk Partners company website talking about the mechanisms of private placement issues and how they work. On 7 May 2013, after two and a half years battle with no proven wrong-doing, the SEC and Abdelnour reached an out of court settlement, amounting to a $25,000 fine and 5 year ban from the securities industry.
In the settlement, the SEC determined that he "knew or recklessly disregarded that the representations he made about the private placement programs on Blackhawk's website and in documents he provided to potential investors were false."[14] In a private statement, Abdelnour emphatically stated that he never put anyone of his clients or partners at risk and has nothing to hide. He stated that no money was moved, no trade was done, and no one made or lost money, and that the blog was simply for educational purposes.
Opinion columnist, Matt Levine writing in Deal breaker magazine remarked that "a $25,000 fine is I guess a little harsh for a scam that didn’t actually hurt anyone, but at the same time it’s a little mild for an intentionally scammy effort to steal millions of dollars, failed or not."[10]
Violation of Securities & Exchange act
He violated Sections 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act which prohibit fraudulent conduct in the offer or sale of securities. He also also charged for violation of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act by attempting to induce the purchase of securities without being registered with the Commission as a broker or dealer
Activities
Ziad Khalil Abdelnour is chairman and a founding member of the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon, an activist organization lobbying the United States government to oppose Syria's influence in Lebanon, supporting the Syria Accountability Act[15]. He supported the neoconservative Middle East Forum, co-authoring in 2000 a Forum study whose signatories included later George W. Bush administration officials Paula Dobriansky and Douglas Feith.
"In 2000, he was an author of a policy paper advocating the removal of the Syrians from Lebanon that was endorsed by a number of people with close ties to Bush advisers, including Richard N. Perle, a Reagan administration assistant secretary of defense; Douglas J. Feith, one of the architects of the plan to invade Iraq; and David Wurmser, adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney on the Middle East."[16]
Opinions
In an interview with Trish Schuh in 2005, Abdelnour said:
“Iran? We will not let Iran become a nuclear power. We'll find a way, we'll find an excuse- to get rid of Iran. And I don't care what the excuse is. There is no room for rogue states in the world. Whether we lie about it, or invent something, or we don't... I don't care. The end justifies the means. What's right? Might is right, might is right. That's it. Might is right...”
Ziad Abdelnour (November 18, 2005) [17]
Later on in the interview he states
“Iran's going to be finished and every single Arab regime that's like this will be finished. Because there is no room for us capitalists and multinationalists in the world to operate with regimes like this. Its all about money. And power. And wealth... and democracy has to be spread around the world. Those who want to espouse globalization are going to make a lot of money, be happy, their families will be happy. And those who aren't going to play this game are going to be crushed, whether they like it or not! This is how we rule. And this is how it's going to be as long as you have people who think like me.”
Ziad Abdelnour (November 18, 2005) [17]
On Israel's Invasion of Lebanon
“The end justifies the means. I don't care about how it's done. The important thing is that it is done. I don't rule out force. I'm not against force. If it's an option, it will be an option... I have — we have — absolutely no problem with heavy US involvement in Lebanon. On an economic level, military level, political level, security level... whatever it is. Israel is the 51st state of the United States. Let Lebanon be the 52nd state. And if the Arabs don't like it, tough luck.”
Ziad Abdelnour (November 18, 2005) [17]
Hezbollah
“The Lebanese cannot have their cake and eat it, too...Let’s get rid of this cancer [Hezbollah]... Let’s finish the job.”
Ziad Abdelnour (1 August 2006) [18]
War
In 2013, he entitled an article Why a Middle East War is Inevitable which opined that "While it looks like President Obama wants to strip Iran of its nuclear ambitions through negotiations he has convinced the Israelis that if, by the summer of 2014, he fails to strip Iran of its nuclear program, he will back a large-scale military attack on the Iranian infrastructure using direct US power."[19]
Cover-up
Ziad Khalil Abdelnour's Wikipedia page was deleted 4 times, including 3 times in December 2016.[20]
Awards
In 2016, Ziad Khalil Abdelnour was named one of the “500 Most Influential CEO in the world” from Richtopia. Richtopia is a website whose mission is to enrich peoples lives using expert information. Their ultimate vision is in alignment with the United Nations Development Programme‘s (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The website counts on input and articles from financial and entrepreneurial experts. The list compiles influential executives who excel at being pro-active.
In 2017, Abdelnour received an award as a Global Shaper[21] from the World Economic Forum. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
Publications
Abdelnour has contributed a number of articles to the Middle East Forum web site.[22] With Daniel Pipes he was co-Publisher of Middle East Intelligence Bulletin [23] including the report Ending Syria's occupation of Lebanon: The US Role.[24]
In 2011 he wrote Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics, arguing that governments should focus on wealth creation, not job creation.[7][25]
See Also
- Document:US Planned Syrian Civilian Catastrophe Since 2007 - See Timeline Section 2005
- 30 LinkedIn Influencers Who Built A Powerhouse Personal Brand
References
- ↑ https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/500-ceos
- ↑ http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/
- ↑ "MP Salem Abdelnour"
- ↑ https://www.meforum.org/articles/other/lebanon-israel-s-true-partner
- ↑ Landon Thomas Jr. (August 1, 2006). "From Lebanese-American Financiers, Differing Views on the Strife". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
- ↑ "Ziad". FoxNews. Retrieved April 17, 2012.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ a b
{{URL|example.com|optional display text}} - ↑ "Ziad". Freedom Fest Las Vegas Conference. Retrieved July 8, 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ "Ziad". -The Atlas Society Conference. Retrieved May 11, 2012.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ a b c "Investment In Paranoid Fantasy". - Dealbreaker. Archived on December 29, 2014.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ "The Most Influential CEOs in the World". Richtopia - Retrieved June 5, 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ "Blackhawk Partners and Golden Sea Ways sign a 200 Million Euros Partnership Agreement to Fund". Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ↑ http://www.secactions.com/this-week-in-securities-litigation-week-ending-may-10-2013/
- ↑ SEC v/s Ziad Abdelnour
- ↑ Ending Syria’s Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S Role
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/business/worldbusiness/01wall.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&adxnnlx=1154455370-sCKn8yFUsT7Aa+FIOYZXGA
- ↑ a b c Counterpunch Mehlis's Murky Past; US and Israeli Proxies Pushing the Next Neo-Con War: Faking the Case Against Syria]
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/business/worldbusiness/01wall.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&adxnnlx=1154455370-sCKn8yFUsT7Aa+FIOYZXGA New York Times
- ↑ https://www.ziadabdelnour.org/why-a-middle-east-war-is-inevitable/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Ziad_K._Abdelnour
- ↑ https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/500-ceos
- ↑ Articles by Ziad - Middle East Forum - searched 4 September 2013
- ↑ Middle East Intelligence Bulletin - Web site Home page. 4 September 2013
- ↑ Daniel Pipes and Ziad, Ending Syria's occupation of Lebanon: The US Role, Lebanon Study Group Report (Middle East Forum, May 2000)
- ↑ ISBN 1118150120 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1118150120
