A Cayman Islands court has dismissed rival claims from a Saudi Arabian family and a Kuwaiti businessman, instead finding that both defrauded scores of banks out of $126 billion over more than two decades.
The ruling follows a decadelong dispute between the al-Gosaibi family and Maan al-Sanea over who was to blame for the collapse of each other's business empires. Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi and Brothers, or AHAB, and Saad Group, owned by al-Sanea, both defaulted on loans during the global financial crisis in 2009, owing 118 international and regional banks billions of dollars. Each side accused the other of fraud, but their claims were dismissed by Cayman Islands Chief Justice Anthony Smellie, according to a copy of the judgment seen by Reuters.
AHAB said it was considering its legal options. There is an automatic right of appeal, but not until 2019. Al-Sanea and Saad did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
