The reasons behind his arrest are somewhat vague at the moment. What we know is that he is being held on anti-corruption charges with 17 other princes and government officials. They were reportedly arrested while attending an investment conference. And if you’re picturing the prince behind bars in a decrepit Saudi jail cell, think again. Alwaleed and his fellow accused, are actually being held prisoner at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh. The arrest order came directly from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old heir to the throne. The Crown Prince has made anti-corruption one of his primary goals to reform Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s information ministry released the following statement related to the arrests: “The accounts and balances of those detained will be revealed and frozen. Any asset or property related to these cases of corruption will be registered as state property.” That should send some shivers down the spine of Prince Alwaleed. Another state official described the arrests as an “historic and black night against the corrupt.” On news of Alwaleed’s arrest, shares in his publicly traded company Kingdom Holding dropped 10%. With the drop, roughly $750 million was shaved from his net worth. Alwaleed owns 95% of investment company Kingdom Holdings. Over the years his company has been a major investor in many companies including Lyft, Newscorp, Citigroup, Disney and Twitter. His company also owns Paris’ Four Seasons Hotel George V as well as part of Plaza Hotel in New York City.
