Benjamin (Ben) Quayle, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and son of the 44th Vice President Dan Quayle, was involved, along with his lobbying firm Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures (HHQ) in Saudi sportswashing activities.
Rights sources confirmed that Quayle has been employed by the Saudi Public Investment (PIF)-owned LIV Golf to promote the political interests of Saudi Arabia and help sportswash the Saudi government's human rights abuses.
The sources further pointed out that HHQ has omitted important information regarding the foreign interests benefiting from its lobbying activities and failed to register as an agent working for a foreign government, as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and in clear violation of the U.S. law.
“Ben Quayle and his partners at HHQ have chosen to contribute to and benefit from the Saudi government's gross human rights abuses by lobbying for the Saudi Public Investment Fund- owned LIV Golf,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Dawn’s executive director said.
“They have misled Congress, the Biden administration, and the American public by not acknowledging the foreign interests they serve and reporting on their activities benefiting those foreign interests, as required by law.”
Ben has utilised his former status as a US public official and his lobbying firm to advocate for the interests of Saudi-owned LIV Golf in the US, Dawn said in its report.
Dawn is calling on Ben and HHQ to terminate their agreement with LIV Golf, thoroughly assess all their clients, and discontinue representing clients such as LIV Golf.
Dawn is also calling on the US Department of Justice to thoroughly investigate HHQ's apparent violations.
“In this complex world of global politics and business, transparency and accountability are vital. Our democracy depends on our ability to understand who is influencing our policymakers and their true motives,” Raed Jarrar, Dawn’s advocacy director, said.
“Ben Quayle and HHQ's lobbying activities on behalf of Saudi-owned LIV Golf not only undermine these democratic tenets but also provide a smokescreen for the Saudi government's severe human rights violations. This case is not just about lobbying or golf – it is about preserving the sanctity of our democracy.”
In June, the US Justice Department notified the PGA Tour that it will review the US golf operator’s planned merger with LIV Golf for antitrust concerns.
The deal prompted calls from some US lawmakers for the Department of Justice to probe the deal, citing concerns over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and competition in the game of golf.
“The PGA-LIV deal would make a US organisation complicit – and force American golfers and their fans to join this complicity – in the Saudi regime’s latest attempt to sanitize its abuses by pouring funds into major sports leagues,” the letter stated.
In 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia and columnist for the Washington Post and Middle East Eye, was killed by Saudi agents after entering the kingdom's embassy in Istanbul.
It was an assassination that American intelligence services believe was approved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, though he denies a role in the killing.
In 2021, the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) released its annual tracker, which said that Saudi Arabia is one of the most disempowering and unsafe countries from state abuse.
This was a result of a poor record of torture, executions, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and the death penalty.
HRMI noted that immigrants and people without a legal identity were at particular risk of having their economic and social rights violated in Saudi Arabia.
Since being in office, MBS has been accused of using sport to whitewash his poor human rights record, especially after the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing in the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
MBS has displayed a ruthless ambition to force his way to the very top of the political tree, silencing rivals and opponents from across the spectrum since his meteoric rise began in 2015.
Professional golf has been roiled this year by the emergence of LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded breakaway circuit that has lured stars from the US PGA Tour with eye-watering prize money of $25 million per tournament, the sports website said.
According to the source, LIV's CEO, Greg Norman, stands accused of tearing golf apart with help from the deep-pocketed Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), in what activists describe as “sports washing” –- using sport to distract from human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, media reports affirmed that LIV has been denied broadcasting rights by major broadcasting giants. CBS, NBC, and ESPN have already pledged their loyalty to the PGA Tour. Apple TV was one of the major broadcasters LIV was counting on.
However, recently, as per the sources, Apple TV and Amazon have also denied LIV the opportunity to be broadcast on their platforms. The streaming service termed the Saudi funded series as “too toxic” for them to broadcast it on their platform.
espite the domestic and global difficult economic crisis and its involvement in Yemen's war, Saudi Crown Prince MBS spent an insane amount of money in one game or company’s ecosystem.
Dot eSports revealed that MBS was one of the biggest spenders, affirming that he has already spent more than $6,000 on The International 2020 Battle Pass.
Over the last three years, he spent a combined $69,494 and counting on the Battle Pass alone, with $42,100 of that coming from 2018. He has been the top contributor in each of those years and set a record by reaching Level 175,000 in 2017.
MBS has been active on Dota since 2011 and has played over 10,000 matches in Dota, totalling a 5,772-5,467 win/loss record—a 51-percent win rate.
His play-time is private, but at the last time of recording, they had put 9,046 hours into Dota, along with nearly 550 hours in Team Fortress 2.
The new findings sparked large criticism on social media, where online activists accused the gamer prince of being also addicted to cocaine.
Others linked his brutal crackdown in the Kingdom with his addiction to video games.
