The younger brother of Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman has secretly spent $12million on a lavish eight-bedroom estate in Virginia, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Khalid bin Salman al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, bought the estate with cash in February last year using a front company, property documents show.
DailyMail.com has also discovered big spending al-Saud has blown around $8million while working as ambassador, chartering a luxury 767 jet which costs a staggering $30,000 an hour.
The revelations may prove embarrassing to the Arab country’s regime which is implementing austerity policies on its subjects and in November last year Salman initiated a corruption crackdown on his fellow princes in November that allegedly recovered more than $100billion.
The younger brother of Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Khalid bin Salman al-Saud, secretly spent $12million on a lavish eight-bedroom estate in Virginia
Al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, bought the estate with cash in February last year using a front company, property documents show.
Al-Saud’s 24,000square-foot home, known as Le Chateau de Lumiere or the Palace of Light, is located just 18 miles from Washington, DC, in Great Falls, Virginia
The 28-year-old Saudi prince bought the property while he was still a student studying International Security Affairs at Georgetown University
DailyMail.com has also discovered big spending al-Saud has blown around $8million while working as ambassador, chartering a luxury 767 jet which costs a staggering $30,000 an hour
Al-Saud’s 24,000square-foot home, known as Le Chateau de Lumiere or the Palace of Light, is located just 18 miles from Washington, DC, in Great Falls, Virginia and will certainly raise a few eyebrows.
The 28-year-old Saudi prince bought the property while he was still a student studying International Security Affairs at Georgetown University, before rising to the role of ambassador in April last year.
The true owner of the property was disguised behind a front company, Cutlass Properties LLC, used to make the cash purchase on February 17, 2017.
Cutlass is run by Robert Dunn, co-founder and managing director of Washington, DC-based Monument Capital Group.
According to Washington think tank The Gulf Institute, Dunn lived in Riyadh for several years and has enjoyed a long working relationship with the Saudi monarchy.
The think tank and a source with knowledge of the property deal said Dunn’s company Cutlass acted as a front for al-Saud to purchase the property anonymously.
The Palace of Light was built by Iranian-American luxury developer Mike Mafi, who has built other homes in the Washington area.
The true owner of the property was disguised behind a front company, Cutlass Properties LLC, used to make the cash purchase on February 17, 2017.
The Palace of Light, its interior pictured above, was built by Iranian-American luxury developer Mike Mafi, who has built other homes in the Washington area
The property boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and a ballroom. A wine cellar in the home is pictured above
The home has three master suites, one on each floor. The second-floor master suite is 3,500 square feet, with a sitting area, his and her closets, a wraparound balcony and 16 chandeliers. A closet in the home – with space for dresses, shoes and other storage is pictured above
The lower level of the home has 11ft ceilings, a home theater with a 200-inch screen, a card room, a wet bar, a basketball court, a workout room with a water feature, a massage room, a steam shower and a sauna
Le Chateau de Lumiere – its game room pictured above – received Home of the Year at the Great American Living Awards and was also honored twice more by GALA
The property boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and a ballroom according to the Washington Post, which ran a profile of the Palace a month before its sale.
The home has three master suites, one on each floor. The second-floor master suite is 3,500 square feet, with a sitting area, his and her closets, a wraparound balcony and 16 chandeliers.
According to the Post the lower level has 11ft ceilings, a home theater with a 200-inch screen, a card room, a wet bar, a basketball court, a workout room with a water feature, a massage room, a steam shower and a sauna.
The front doors are decorated in ornate gold-leaf and hand-forged iron and besides having three staircases, an elevator also runs to all three levels. There are eight fireplaces and two garages that fit six cars.
A video of the property posted on YouTube shows the luxurious pool and a pool cabana embellished with Corinthian columns and archways. Fire bowls surround the swimming pool.
Le Chateau de Lumiere received Home of the Year at the Great American Living Awards and was also honored twice more by GALA.
‘All those mansions in Rhode Island played a major factor in the design,’ Mafi told the Post. ‘Privacy was the main thing.’
When he’s not at home, al-Saud regularly charters a private Boeing 767 at a cost of $30,000 an hour, according to a source with knowledge of the deal
The customized plane (its interior is pictured above), which has 63 seats, a master bedroom and a 14-hour range, is currently on sale for $65million
The jet is managed by Swiss firm Comlux, although it is owned by the government of Kazakhstan for official use by the president
A bedroom on the plane features carpeted floor, two large beds, a bathroom, and shades to cover the windows
A source said that Comlux is trying to sell the jet (its interior pictured above), but al-Saud uses it ‘from time to time’
Al-Saud is a former F-15 pilot who trained with the US Air Force in Mississippi. Analysis of al-Saud’s recorded flights by the Gulf Institute shows the total cost to be an estimated $8million, or 267 hours
While living in style is very important to the Saudi ambassador, al-Saud also likes to travel in style DailyMail.com has learned.
The prince regularly charters a private Boeing 767 at a cost of $30,000 an hour, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
Video obtained by the Washington think tank shows al-Saud disembarking from the plane after it taxied from the runway at Dulles Airport near DC in July last year.
The customized plane, which has 63 seats, a master bedroom and a 14-hour range, is currently on sale for $65million, according to German website Planespotters.net.
The jet is managed by Swiss firm Comlux, although it is owned by the government of Kazakhstan for official use by the president.
‘He’s been trying to sell it for years, but can’t, so Comlux are chartering it out for him,’ said the source. ‘Khalid bin Salman uses it from time to time.’
Analysis of al-Saud’s recorded flights by the Gulf Institute shows the total cost to be an estimated $8million, or 267 hours.
Other users have included deposed Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
Al-Saud is a former F-15 pilot who trained with the US Air Force in Mississippi.
Al-Saud (left) was appointed ambassador in April, 2017, replacing Prince Abdullah bin Faisal (right), who had served in the post since October 2015
Al-Saud, pictured center with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, has a wife and two young children and has access to the official ambassador’s residence – a palatial compound overlooking the Potomac River in McLean, Virginia
Al-Saud, pictured left, is the seen attending a meeting with his brother, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House on Tuesday
Al-Saud and Salman are the sons of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, pictured above center in 2014
In 2014, he took part in sorties and bombing raids against ISIS as part of the US-led international coalition against the militants and also served in Yemen.
Aside from jaunts to Capitol Hill and quiet visits to a few Georgetown restaurants, the prince keeps a low profile in Washington.
He has a wife and two young children and has access to the official ambassador’s residence – a palatial compound overlooking the Potomac River in McLean, Virginia.
Al-Saud was appointed ambassador in April, 2017, replacing Prince Abdullah bin Faisal, who had served in the post since October 2015.
He also had two far flashier predecessors, Adel al-Jubeir, the well-connected former ambassador who is now the Saudi foreign minister, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, another former fighter pilot who was close to the Bush family, often dubbed ‘Bandar Bush’.
Bandar was known as a ‘playboy prince’ and lived large, once owning Hala Ranch, a 95-acre estate in Aspen valued at $135million in 2006.
At 56,000 square feet the property is bigger than the White House, and Bandar had a staff of 12 when he lived there.
It has 15 bedrooms, 16 baths, a private barbershop and beauty salon just off the master suite and enough space for a party of 450 people.
Bandar also owned a 2,000 acre country estate in England and the flamboyant prince often threw lavish parties at his residences.