Rami Makhlouf (Arabic: رَامِي مَخْلُوف, romanized: Rāmī Maḫlūf; born 10 July 1969) is a Syrian businessman and a maternal cousin of former president Bashar al-Assad.
[4][5] In 2016, he was reported to own Syriatel, the largest mobile phone network in Syria, along with other retail, banking and real estate companies.
[12] Makhlouf's remaining assets in Syria are considered to be insignificant compared to the billions he has transferred abroad on behalf of Bashar al-Assad.
Besides Syriatel, he is involved in real estate, banking, free-trade zones along the border with Lebanon, duty-free shops, and luxury departmental stores.
Assad believed the Makhlouf family could be relied upon to support Bashar without reserve in the uncertain political environment that would follow upon his death, unlike other insiders, who had close financial ties to billionaire Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, such as former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam.
Rami and his brother Ihab therefore enjoyed easy access to opportunities such as an exclusive license to operate a network of duty-free retail shops, where a significant portion of goods were redistributed inside the country.
[33] Makhlouf has further been accused of illegally diverting Lebanese telephone calls through Syria with the help of businessman Pierre Fattouch for the benefit of Syriatel.
[21] Makhlouf controlled three Syrian companies close to the government of Bashar Al-Assad – Maxima Middle East Trading, Morgan Additives Manufacturing and Pangates International.
HSBC told the law firm that the Swiss authorities had frozen Makhlouf's accounts, and that "they have had no contact with the beneficial owner of this company since the last 3 months".
Despite several warnings from the Syrian government not to interfere, Seif began an anticorruption campaign in September 2001 against the way the two GSM mobile phone licenses were awarded, of which one to Maklouf's Syriatel.
[40] United Nations observers at its Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, set up in 2011, have documented "mass arrests by regime forces, leading to the enforced disappearance of large groups of fighting-age men.
Some opposition activists during the Syrian civil war accused Makhlouf of financing pro-government demonstrations both across Syria and abroad, by providing flags, meals and money for those participating.
[44] Opposition activists claim that Makhlouf finances the Syrian Electronic Army, and masterminded its move out of Syria to one of his Dubai companies.
[52] On 22 April 2020, Egyptian authorities seized 4 tonnes of hashish hidden in a cargo of milk cartons, related to a company owned by Makhlouf, in Port Said which was heading to Libya; however, he later claimed that the incident was a set-up aimed at "defaming" him.
[53] On 1 May 2020, Makhlouf made an "unprecedented" public appeal to his cousin President Bashar al-Assad on Facebook, saying a "cadre of officials" were seeking to seize his assets, as he was pressured to hand over in excess of £S 130,000,000,000 due to tax evasion.
[11] However, speculations indicate that the Syrian first lady, Asma al-Assad, has been responsible for the whole plot, the reason was that "many businessmen loyal to Asma Assad competed with Makhlouf for control of diminishing resources, after the collapse of the Syrian pound, along with sanctions, made the space in which they compete narrow and difficult", according to Dr. Muhannad Al-Hajj Ali, a researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
[56] In addition, the Syrian authorities might have targeted Makhlouf in order to find resources prior to the implementation of U.S. sanctions related to the Caesar Act.
[8] On 25 June, the Syrian government terminated duty free contracts in all ports and border crossings with companies affiliated with Makhlouf.
Ali Makhlouf is an Instagram celebrity with over 250,000 followers[62] caused controversy when he was spotted in Beverly Hills, California driving a Ferrari Spider in 2021.