Restaurant owner to pay $8.6M for defrauding Kuwaiti royal
February 5, 2020, 10:53 am

Restaurant owner to pay $8.6M for defrauding Kuwaiti royal

A Baltimore restaurant owner was found guilty of defrauding a Kuwaiti royal family member and was ordered to pay her more than $8 million. (File photo Reuters)

A Baltimore restaurant owner who developed a financial relationship with a Kuwaiti royal was found guilty of defrauding the woman and is now ordered to pay her more than $8 million.

Jean Agbodjogbe was convicted Friday of concealing and misrepresenting his business dealings with Alia Salem al-Sabah for his own gain, The Baltimore Sun reported. The verdict became available Tuesday.

Al-Sabah is a member of a wealthy royal family in Kuwait. Her father is the president of the National Guard, her husband is a former minister of the interior and her uncle served as head of state. She reported her self-worth at $24 million.

The royal visited the United States in June 2014 while one of her daughters was attending Johns Hopkins University. During that time, she stopped at Agbodjogbe’s halal restaurant, Nailah’s Kitchen.

Al-Sabah ordered $10,000 worth of food from the restaurant to feed worshipers at a neighborhood mosque as an act of charity for the holy month of Ramadan. The agreement sparked the beginning of a partnership between the restaurant owner and the royal even after she returned to Kuwait.

Over time, Agbodjogbe convinced Al-Sabah to wire him thousands of dollars at a time, first to expand his restaurant, then to revitalize Baltimore’s once-thriving Howard Street. Records show he bought several properties but also spent the money on personal expenses like sending his children to private school and buying a house for his family for over $400,000.

Agbodjogbe said during the trial that he considered the money as a gift that he could spend freely. Al-Sabah’s attorneys said she sent the money as an investment for the restaurant owner to buy and redevelop properties on her behalf. The attorneys also said Agbodjogbe inflated the cost of his business dealings to get more money from Al-Sabah.

“He fell into the money trap. It was a honey hole, and he fell in,” said James Sweeting III, an attorney representing Agbodjogbe told the jury.

Agbodjogbe was ordered to pay back Al-Sabah the $7.6 million she sent to him over several years. The jury also ordered him to pay $1 million in punitive damages.

“The jury delivered a clear and unmistakable message: The Defendants lied to Ms. Al-Sabah for their own financial gain. The jury found that her unfortunate reliance on Defendants’ web of deceptions and concealments was justified and reasonable,” Michael MacWilliams, an attorney for al-Sabah, wrote in an email.

source: The Associated Press

All arrivals to Hong Kong from mainland China to face ‘compulsory quarantine’ Erdogan threatens Syria over attacks on Turkish observation posts in Idlib

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”