Report: Head of LIV could face $74M lawsuit for ‘malicious intent’

The governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund could be sued in Canadian court for allegedly “harming, silencing and ultimately destroying” the family of the country’s former intelligence chief.

In legal filings a Canadian court was asked to add Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF which owns LIV Golf, to an existing court case, according to The Athletic. Al-Rumayyan allegedly “carried out the instructions” of the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, with “the malicious intent” of “harming, silencing and ultimately destroying” the family of the country’s former intelligence chief, Dr Saad Aljabri.

Al-Rumayyan is meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan this week, according to a report in the Sports Business Journal, as the two sides continue to negotiate a deal that would create a new, for-profit entity that would include the Tour, LIV Golf and the European tour. A Tour spokesperson declined to comment on the SBJ report.

Aljabri fled Saudi Arabia in 2017, and in 2021 he was accused of embezzling millions of dollars of state funds intended for counter-terrorism while working at the interior ministry. Aljabri has denied those claims.

Aljabri, whose son and daughter have both been jailed in Saudi Arabia, hopes to allege that Al-Rumayyan was “directly involved” in a three-and-a-half-year campaign between June 2017 and January 2021 to pursue Aljabri’s family. If the court allows the family to add Al-Rumayyan to the current lawsuit, they intend to seek $74 million in damages.

The PGA Tour and PIF announced a framework agreement last June after nearly two years of legal battles and extended a Dec. 31 deadline to continue negotiations. The London Times also reported that Monahan and Al-Rumayyan recently had a lengthy phone conversation and that negotiations were progressing between the two sides.