Shola Shopping Center was founded by Prince Mishaal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the young-half brother of King Fahd and owner of Al Shoula Group in 1984.

According to The Washington Post in 1992, Prince Mishaal signed a contract worth almost $11.6 million dollars with Youngstown-based American firm Bucheit Companies in February 1981 to build a shopping complex in ad-Dhubbat neighborhood of Riyadh.

Traficant even wrote to Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud in 1991, then US ambassador to Saudi Arabia regarding Bucheit's case on behalf of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

After the Gulf crisis began in 1990 and as US soldiers arrived in the country, including female troops and journalists, the mutawa increased its activity in order to contain the "so-called" Western influence in Saudi Arabia.

After a two-month federal trial, on April 11, 2002, he was convicted of 10 felony counts including bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion and was sentenced to eight years in prison.