Breaking News - World’s most expensive home? another bauble for a saudi prince LOUVECIENNES, France — When the Chateau Louis XIV sold for over $300 million two years ago, Fortune magazine called it “the world’s most expensive home,” and Town Country swooned over its goldleafed fountain, marble statues and hedged labyrinth set in a 57acre landscaped park. But for all the lavish details, one fact was missing the identity of the buyer. Now, it turns out that the paper trail leads to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir to the Saudi throne and the driving force behind a series of bold policies transforming Saudi Arabia and shaking up the Middle East. The 2015 purchase appears to be one of several extravagant acquisitions — including a $500 million yacht and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting — by a prince who is leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and selfenrichment by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home. The chateau was bought for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is leading a crackdown on corruption by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home. Fayez NureldineAgence FrancePresse — Getty Images “He has tried to build an image of himself, with a fair amount of success, that he is different, that he’s a reformer, at least a social reformer, and that he’s not corrupt,” said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and author. “And this is a severe blow to that image.” The story of Chateau Louis XIV, as pieced together through interviews and documents by The New York Times, unfolds like a financial whodunit, featuring a lawyer in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and a fixer for the very rich from the Mediterranean nation of Malta. Even Kim Kardashian made a cameo at the chateau, reportedly considering it for her wedding to Kanye West. The ownership of the chateau, in Louveciennes, France, near Versailles, is carey shrouded by shell companies in France and Luxembourg. Those companies are owned by Eight Investment Company, a Saudi firm managed by the head of Crown Prince Mohammed’s personal foundation. Advisers to members of the royal family say the chateau ultimately belongs to the crown prince. The chateau is built in the style of Louis XIV, and a marble statue of him overlooks the grounds. Lea Mandana for The New York Times Eight Investment was the same company that backed Prince Mohammed’s impulse buy of the 440foot yacht from a Russian vodka tycoon in 2015. The company also recently bought an 620acre estate in CondésurVesgre, known as Le Rouvray, an hour’s drive from Paris. The chateau’s architect is refurbishing the manor house there and building structures for an apparent hunting compound, according to permit records at the local town hall. Versailles Style, Modern AmenitiesThe chateau’s developer, Emad Khashoggi, nephew of the late billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, bulldozed a 19thcentury castle in Louveciennes to make way for the new chateau in 2009. To the naked eye it appears to have been built in the time of Versailles, the royal palace that set a world standard for gaudy luxury. But the 17thcentury design camouflages 21stcentury technology. The fountains, system, lights and whispersilent air conditioning can all be controlled remotely by iPhone. Along with more standard flourishes for topoftheline properties, like a wine cellar and theater, the rotunda features an exquisite fresco on the ceiling while the moat includes a transparent underwater chamber with sturgeon and koi swimming overhead. A statue of Louis XIV made of Carrara marble stands over the grounds. The Chateau Louis XIV is set in a 57acre landscaped park. The developer bulldozed a 19thcentury castle in Louveciennes to make way for the new chateau in 2009. Charles PlatiauReuters “The idea is tacky, and then once you visit it isn’t,” said Marianne Merlino, who was the town’s deputy mayor during construction. “Like in Versailles, that was way over the top too, and like Louis XIV, he achieved something really quite incredible.”An Assertive Young LeaderIn less than three years in the public eye, Crown Prince Mohammed, 32, has forged a reputation as an assertive — some critics say reckless — leader. He launched an air campaign in Yemen and spearheaded the blockade of Qatar. Yet he also appears to have won the popular support of many young Saudis for reining in the country’s religious police, promising to give women the right to drive and announcing that theaters will be allowed to open again. But his swift rise has ruffled some of his elders, especially when he shoved aside his older cousin to become crown prince. He has come under even more scrutiny since the arrests last month of nearly a dozen of his royal cousins and hundreds of other businessmen or officials, who have been detained at the RitzCarlton in Riyadh, now the world’s most luxurious jail. The government characterized the arrests as a crackdown on corruption but critics have called it a political purge and a shaked

• published: 17 Dec 2017
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