KUWAIT CITY â A Kuwaiti businessman linked to Citigroup and charged in the United States with fraud committed suicide Sunday, a security official said.
Hazem al-Braikan was found dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head and a handgun at his side, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not have the full details.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged al-Braikan last week with scheming to make millions by manipulating the stock of certain U.S. companies. The SEC said it was freezing more than $5 million in profits believed to have been made off the questionable deals by al-Braikan and three companies with whom he is associated.
Al-Braikan was CEO of Al-Raya Investment Co. which is 10-percent owned by the New York-based Citigroup Inc.
The SEC says al-Braikan's company as well as two other companies â the United Gulf Bank and KIPCO Asset Management Co. â traded shares based on two phony announcements. One announcement faxed to media outlets July 19 and subsequently reported on the Internet the following day stated that a Middle Eastern investment group made an offer to acquire Stamford, Connecticut-based electronic systems maker Harman International Industries Inc.
Harman was forced to issue a statement last Monday denying it had been approached by a mysterious Gulf investor known as the Arabian Peninsula Group following a number of media reports. The company's shares tumbled sharply once the hoax was revealed.
