Arif Naqvi stole $100million from Bill Gates

Arif Naqvi, the CEO of the Abraaj Group, a now-defunct private equity business with operations on six continents, was accused of stealing $780 million from the firm’s finances, including a $100 million investment from the Gates Foundation.

In September 2017, Naqvi gave a speech in New York to seek billions of dollars for a new fund. He was detained at Heathrow Airport in April 2019 for his participation in a multimillion-dollar scam. In January of this year, a UK judge ordered Naqvi’s extradition to the US, where he faces up to 291 years in prison.

In September 2017, Naqvi gave a speech in New York to seek billions of dollars for a new fund. He was detained at Heathrow Airport in April 2019 for his participation in a multimillion-dollar scam. In January of this year, a UK judge ordered Naqvi’s extradition to the US, where he faces up to 291 years in prison.

How Arif Naqvi Robbed Bill Gates:

He founded Abraaj Group in 2003 after obtaining $118 million, primarily from Middle Eastern governments, to combat world poverty.

Arif Naqvi was invited to a Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in 2010 by then-US President Barack Obama and 250 other Muslim leaders.

During his keynote presentation, he emphasized the necessity of impact investment and how a billion children will require training and employment in the next decades.

“It can only happen via entrepreneurship,” Naqvi told the Summit. The US government invested $150 million in Abraaj Group two months later.

Arif Naqvi also took over K-Electric in 2008. While he increased the company’s profitability, he also lay off nearly 6,000 people, sparking protests against him. While under pressure at home, he diverted attention away from himself by making large philanthropic donations to the West.

He spoke in Davos and other such conferences regularly, where he established friends with Bill Gates, who was also the honoree at a dinner at Naqvi’s house in 2012.

The Gates Foundation contributed $100 million to the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, which aims to enhance hospitals and clinics in developing countries. Following in the footsteps of wealthy benefactors such as Bill Gates, other investors contributed an extra $900 million to the fund.

In actuality, Arif Naqvi abused his stake in Abraaj Group by using a “secretive treasury account.” The majority of Abraaj Group workers were unaware of the hidden account since the equity business was made up of over 300 entities, the majority of which were domiciled in tax havens throughout the world.

Most of the time, the account was nearly empty. Because authorities required millions of dollars to be kept in the account for emergencies, Arif Naqvi and his colleagues transferred money into the account shortly before the end of each quarter to make it appear to have the appropriate amount. A few days later, they drained the account once more.

In a Ponzi scheme scam, Arif Naqvi and his associates also regularly exploited one fund to pay dividends on another.

On January 9, 2014, a manager of one of Abraaj Group’s funds’ finance department warned Naqvi that the business will have a $100 million shortfall by January 15, 2014. Instead of telling the investors the truth, Naqvi chose the route of deception and claimed that everything was proceeding as planned.

In 2015, he not only rewarded himself $53.75 million, but he also defrauded investors by retaining $154 million from the sale of shares.

Soon after, Andrew Farnum, the fund manager at the Gates Foundation, became suspicious as the Abraaj Group continued to seek Bill Gates for hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh investment while paying no returns on the prior investment.

Andrew Farnum sent an email to Arif Naqvi in September 2017, requesting him to disclose the location of Bill Gates’ latest investment and show that he wasn’t abusing one of the world’s wealthiest men’s money.

Naqvi’s response was just vague pledges and outdated bank statements.

A week later, an unnamed Abraaj Group employee delivered an incriminating e-mail to all of the firm’s investors, disclosing the organization’s fraudulent operations.

The email broke investors’ trust in Abraaj Group, and they requested that Arif Naqvi refund their money. A forensic accounting team was engaged by the Gates Foundation to look into Abraaj’s accounts.

While Arif Naqvi, who is now under house arrest in London, awaits the outcome of his appeal against extradition to the United States, where he faces up to 291 years in prison, he maintains his innocence and denies any involvement.

Published in Lahore Herald #ArifNaqvi, #ArifNaqviBillGates, #ArifNaqviRobbedBillGates, #ArifNaqviStoleBillGates, #BillGates Published in Lahore Herald