Phoenix Ancient Art

In the 1980s, at the height of the Lebanese Civil War, Ali was kidnapped by a Syrian gang and held hostage until Sleiman procured his release.

[11] Following the incident, the family (Sleiman, Souad, the boys and their sister Noura) relocated to Geneva, Switzerland, where they continue to operate a branch of the business today.

Nicknamed "Tall and Taller" by the socialite set (such as those attending events with art collector Leon Levy and his wife Shelby White), they were the awe and the fear of fellow industry players.

In 2004, Hicham Aboutaam, the co-owner of Phoenix Ancient pleaded guilty of forging the origins of a rhyton, which their gallery sold for $950,000.

[22] In 2023, Ali Aboutaam, the founder of Phoenix Ancient Art, was given a 18-month suspended jail sentence in Geneva, for "violating the law on the transfer of cultural properties and use of forged provenance documents.