QUITE A CLAN IN BOSTON
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by Jonathan Wells, Maggie Mulvihill, Gayle Fee and Scott Van Voorhis
THE BOSTON HERALD
Tuesday, September 18, 2001
Hours after hijackers crashed commercial jets into targets in New York
and Washington, D.C., last Tuesday, FBI agents swept into the
Charlestown condominium complex where relatives of terrorist
mastermind Osama bin Laden live, the Herald has learned.
The FBI's investigation into the extended family of bin Laden living
in the Hub is continuing, sources confirmed, as agents recently began
combing Boston's trendy nightclubs and collecting credit card receipts
left behind by the bin Laden clan.
Bin Laden's siblings in Boston have strongly disavowed their
44-year-old brother, who is now the chief suspect in last week's
brutal terror attack, which killed thousands of Americans and wiped
out the World Trade Center.
Word of the probe into bin Laden relatives follows the arrest of an
unidentified man on Friday at John F. Kennedy Airport who reportedly
knows one of Osama bin Laden's brothers. The man also reportedly gave
authorities a Boston address linked to the hijackers.
Members of the massive FBI and police task force scouring the country
for clues to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack have also spoken to people
in Boston about a Newbury Street hotel and restaurant owner who
sources said is close to certain bin Laden family members here.
About 10 p.m. on Sept. 11, two FBI agents arrived at the Flagship
Wharf condominium complex on 8th St. and conducted a series of
interviews with unit owners, according to Sherry Grancey, a longtime
resident of the complex.
Grancey said she did not know who was interviewed, but records show at
least two bin Laden relatives currently own units in the complex.
Mohammed bin Laden owns four units and Nawaf bin Laden owns one,
records show.
``We are doing everything possible to assist the local, state and
federal authorities in their investigation of this American tragedy,''
Grancey said.
In the week since the terror attack, residents of the 201-unit complex
have been besieged by the media and many are fearful of possible
reprisals aimed at their neighbors, the bin Ladens, Grancey said.
On Wednesday, Grancey contacted the Boston Police Department and asked
for police protection for the residents. Uniformed officers have been
patrolling the property ever since.
Attempts to reach bin Laden family members were unsuccessful
yesterday.
``They're wonderful neighbors,'' said Grancey, a real estate broker
who has lived at Flagship Wharf since 1995. ``They are very concerned
with family and they are professional, educated, nice people.''
The two nightclubs visited by FBI agents last week were Venue, on
Warrenton Street in the Theater District and Trio, on Lincoln Street
in the Leather District These are just two of the many local clubs
and restaurants frequented by the younger bin Ladens, sources said.
Authorities in Boston have been aware for years of the extended bin
Laden family living in the Boston area, and in 1998, after terrorists
bombed U.S.embassies in Africa, they began monitoring the activities
of several bin Laden relatives, according to one source familiar with
that investigation.
Mohammed M. bin Laden, believed to be a younger brother of the
terrorist leader, owns several properties in and around Boston,
including luxury condos at Flagship Wharf. Sources said he moved back
to Saudi Arabia with his wife and children several years ago.
Abdullah M. bin Laden, another younger brother, is a 1994 graduate of
Harvard Law School and has offices in Cambridge.
Meanwhile, two sources confirmed that Mouldi Sayeh, owner of the Jewel
of Newbury Hotel and restaurant at 254 Newbury St., is being
scrutinized by the FBI.
Sayeh, 47, is a wealthy Algerian who several years ago opened the
pricey boutique hotel located in a five-story brownstone near the
corner of Newbury and Fairfield streets. The basement and courtyard
house a restaurant by the same name.
Several merchants in that section of Newbury Street said it appears
that very few people stay at the high-priced hotel, and the restaurant
does not draw many patrons. A night in the hotel costs up to $2,000.
After the terrorist attack, Mouldi removed his menu display from the
courtyard in front of the restaurant and closed for business,
according to one merchant. More recently, the restaurant has opened
sporadically.
One source who is familiar with the Jewel of Newbury said he discussed
Sayeh and his involvement with the bin Laden family with an FBI agent
on Friday.
That source described Sayeh as a ``broker'' for bin Laden family
members in Boston.
On Sunday, two Herald reporters rang the buzzer next to the locked
front door of the hotel and a man answered who identified himself as
``Mouldi.'' When asked if he would discuss the bin Laden family, he
said, ``I don't know them,'' and closed and locked the door.
Public records, however, show that Sayeh has owned expensive
condominiums in two complexes in which bin Laden relatives also owned
units. Records also show he owns a Rolls Royce and a small fleet of
Mercedes Benz vehicles.
In the mid-1990s, Mohammed bin Laden acquired four units at Flagship
Wharf. Around the same time, other bin Laden relatives began moving in
and out of nearby units.
Sayeh also bought a unit at Flagship Wharf in the mid-1990s valued at
approximately $400,000. This year, in May, he sold it for more than $1
million.
Also in the 1990s, Mohammed bin Laden and Sayeh bought and sold units
at Cambridge's ritzy Esplanade condominium project overlooking the
Charles River. Sayeh bought an eighth-floor unit in 1995 which he sold
for $1.3 million in May of last year.
In May 1997, Mohammed bin Laden sold a unit in the Esplanade for
$830,000.
Both men own residences in Wayland. Mohammed bin Laden owns a 17-room,
10-bedroom mansion on Old Connecticut Road. Previously, he owned
another home in the town, on Rice Road, which he sold for $575,000 in
1996. Sayeh bought a home on Glezen Street for $340,000 in 1993.
Mohammed bin Laden's holdings at Flagship Wharf are substantial. He
bought a ninth-floor penthouse unit in 1995, which is now valued at
$877,000, and he owns three other units with values that range from
just under $300,000 to more than $750,000.
Other relatives have also owned apartments at Flagship Wharf.
Saad and Ahmed bin Laden each bought condos - both in the $500,000
range - there in the mid-1990s and later sold them. Nawaf bin Laden
also bought into the luxury complex and is still listed there,
according to city property records.
Many of the bin Ladens selected Boston as their American residence in
part because of the large Middle Eastern population and the quality of
its many colleges and universities. A family-owned corporation in
Jidda, Saudi Arabia, funded two separate $1 million gifts to Harvard
University. One was made to Harvard Law School to promote the study of
Islamic law, and the other was given to the Harvard Graduate School of
Design to endow students and professors to pursue the study of Islamic
architecture and art.
The bin Laden family derives its billions from its Saudi Arabian
construction company, which was favored by Saudi kings over the last
50 years and built most of the nation's airports and roadways, among
other projects.
When the family patriarch and construction company founder, Sheik
Mohammed bin Laden, died in 1968, the family fortune was divided among
the more than 50 children he left behind - the offspring of multiple
marriages to women in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. A group
of the eldest bin Laden brothers now run the construction business.
Jack Meyers contributed to this report.