Ziad Abdelnour

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Ziad Abdelnour          (financier, businessman)
Born	1960-12-03 Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	Lebanese, American
Alma mater	American University of Beirut, Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania
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
Founder of	United States Committee for a Free Lebanon
Financier who was disciplined by the SEC.

Ziad K. Abdelnour is a Lebanon-born American financier who reached an out of court settlement with the SEC in 2013 that saw him fined $25,000 and banned from dealing in securities for 5 years.

Background

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) In 1984 he graduated from the Wharton School of Finance.

Career

Abdelnour worked as an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert where he was a high yield bond trader under Michael Milken.

Abdelnour has spoken on TV and has written on wealth creation, physical commodities trading and Middle East geo-political analysis at industry conferences in USA.

Connections

Abdelnour had close ties to the US Neocon 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." In 2016, Richtopia ranked him as one of The 500 Most Influential CEOs.

Blackhawk Partners

In 2006, after a 22-year career on Wall Street 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." 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. 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

On 7 May 2013, the SEC and Abdelnour reached an out of court settlement, amounting to a $25,000 fine and 5 year ban from the securities industry, after which he had to reapply for permission to enter the business.

Matt Levine writing in Dealbreaker 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."

Activities

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. 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.

Quotes

In an interview with Trish Schuh in 2005, he 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) 

And:

“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) 

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 51^st state of the United States. Let Lebanon be the 52^nd state. And if the Arabs don't like it, tough luck.”
Ziad Abdelnour (November 18, 2005) 

Hezbollah

The Lebanese cannot have their cake and eat it, too...Let’s get rid of this cancer [Hezbollah]... Let’s finish the job.", "Source"., New York Times, Date=1 August 2006

Publications

Abdelnour has contributed a number of articles to the Middle East Forum web site. With Daniel Pipes he was co-Publisher of Middle East Intelligence Bulletin including the report Ending Syria's occupation of Lebanon: The US Role.

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.

See Also

• Document:US Planned Syrian Civilian Catastrophe Since 2007 - See Timeline Section 2005
• 30 LinkedIn Influencers Who Built A Powerhouse Personal Brand

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