Massad Boulos

Massad Fares Boulos (; born 1971) is a Lebanese-born American businessman and Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump. He is the father of Michael Boulos and the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany. He supported Trump's successful presidential campaign in the 2024 presidential election, and canvassed for the support of Arab Americans, particularly in Michigan.

Boulos worked as the CEO of SCOA Nigeria PLC, a trucking and heavy machinery dealership company and subsidiary of the Fadoul Group in Nigeria. He rose to prominence in 2018 when his son began to date Tiffany Trump. While he was originally announced in December 2024 as a Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs advisor, in April 2025, Boulos was also appointed as Senior Advisor for Africa.

Early life

Boulos was born to a Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christian family in Kfaraakka, Koura, Lebanon (his surname meaning the apostle "Paul" in Arabic). Both his father and grandfather were figures in Lebanese politics and his father-in-law was a key funder of the Free Patriotic Movement.

He moved to Texas as a teenager. He graduated in 1993 from University of Houston–Downtown with a bachelor of business administration degree. Boulos also holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. He was described by President Donald Trump as "an accomplished lawyer", however, he applied to take the bar exam in Texas in 1996 but there is no evidence of his admission. No evidence has been found that Boulos is licensed as a lawyer in any of the following countries: United States, Nigeria, Lebanon, or France.

Career

In business

After completing his education, Boulos moved to Nigeria and became the CEO of SCOA Nigeria PLC. SCOA is a trucking and heavy machinery dealership. Its shares trade for about two Nigerian naira, roughly a tenth of a US cent, a penny stock with a market capitalization worth about $865,000 as of 2024. Boulos’s personal stake is worth just $1.53 according to the company's latest annual report, as reported by the New York Times.

According to the same article, when asked by The Times to confirm the multibillion-dollar valuation of his company, he said that describing it as "multibillion dollar" company was accurate and mentioned that "It's a big company. Long story." In other interviews, Boulos mentioned that he referred to the Fadoul Group's companies, which he said were collectively worth more than $1 billion and further added that "I've never gone into any details like that about the value".

Boulos Enterprises

Following Trump's announcement that he would appoint Boulos as a presidential advisor (see § US politics), he was "reported to have significant discrepancies between his public profile and documented business background".

He later claimed he did not mean that he was actually associated with or owned Boulos Enterprises, and that he did not correct public reports because he "made a practice of not commenting on his businesses"; Boulos Enterprises is owned by another family of the same name.

Following media scrutiny of Boulos' track record, Trump-Vance Transition Team's spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called the stories "fake news" and, in an email answering to the article published by the Business Insider, said that: "The truth is Mr. Boulos is a highly respected businessman who has proudly served as the CEO of some of his family's group of companies based in West Africa for more than 27 years and his family has employed tens of thousands of people around the globe". Several Nigerian media outlets published an op-ed penned by Magnus Onyibe, credited as a non-executive independent director at SCOA, echoing Leavitt's press release and praising the company's self-described achievements in Nigeria and West Africa.

Lebanese politics

Boulos has links to Christian politicians and parties in Lebanon, including Suleiman Frangieh of the Marada Movement who is considered aligned with Hezbollah, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and also maintained talks with opposition parties like the Lebanese Forces. However, he has mentioned in interviews that he is not affiliated with any party in Lebanon and that he is acquainted with most Lebanese Christian leaders.

According to Century Foundation's analyst Aron Lund, quoting a report in ''As-Safir'', Boulos began his political career as an ally of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, and represented it in Nigeria, where he did business. Boulos remained allied to Aoun after he agreed an alliance with Hezbollah. When asked about his support for Aoun, he said that "as Lebanese Christians, most of us supported President Aoun's calls for Lebanese sovereignty from the late 1980's to the early 2000's (including the United States Congress and administrations); in fact in 2005, he enjoyed the support of close to 80% of Lebanese Christians as well as Muslims." In October 2024, the Free Patriotic Movement declared they were no longer bound by their previous alliance.

AP reported that Boulos initially stood for parliament in Koura, but withdrew for another list involving the FPM, Marada (Frangieh's party), and the communists. In 2009, the FPM shortlisted him, but Aoun eventually chose another candidate. By 2018, he was a supporter of Frangieh's Marada. He subsequently denied ever running for Parliament.

Lund writes that Boulos' career "does not exactly indicate a firm commitment to either side in Lebanese or regional politics", and that his appointment suggests that Trump's Middle East policy "will often be more readily understood in light of the personalities orbiting Mar-a-Lago Trump-owned resortthan through an ideological prism or in terms of U.S. national interest." Analyst Mitchell Plitnick saw Boulos as "a businessman and political opportunist" but that his nomination signaled the administration's willingness to engage with the Palestinians.

US politics

During the 2024 US presidential elections, Boulos campaigned for Trump in Muslim and Arab communities with Bishara Bahbah, who founded Arabs for Trump, and Richard Grenell. He sought to portray Trump as supportive of "global peace", according to Bahbah. In an interview with The Times, he said that "There are 3.5 million Arab Americans, which is a huge number, and they just want their voices to be heard. And Trump has been listening". Despite that, there was pushback against his outreach during some meetings, as some attendees criticized Trump's policies regarding Jerusalem.

Yassin K. Fawaz, a political analyst, credits Boulos as bridging "the gap between Trump's campaign and these communities, ensuring that their concerns were not only heard but acted upon".

Role as Senior Advisor

Boulos has acted as an intermediary between the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas and Trump.

Boulos was involved in the 2024 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement. While he initially said that the Lebanese Army was fulfilling his duty in "''an acceptable manner''" regarding its role in the ceasefire, he subsequently explained during an interview for Le Point that "there was an initial misunderstanding, particularly in Lebanon, where it was believed that the ceasefire agreement applied only to the area south of the Litani River". He further clarified his position and reaffirmed the requirement that Hezbollah should disarm applies to the whole of Lebanon, not just areas south of the Litani river.

The New Arab quotes Boulos as saying that "the text is very clear in implementing United Nations resolutions, whether Resolution 1701 or 1559". In an interview with MTV News, he asserted that the question of Iranian funding for armed groups, including Hezbollah, was an integral part of the ceasefire agreement.

During negotiations for the current Lebanese government, Boulos was responsible for conveying the message that Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, should play a less prominent role in the new government.

In a meeting with Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council and activist settler, Boulos said that "in Israel, in Lebanon, and throughout the region, we want and hope for peace, and with God's grace, we will achieve it soon”. His meeting and declarations were criticized by Palestinian advocates as promoting the "normalization" of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. He also attended an Iftar dinner hosted by the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter. An article published by The Times of Israel noted the absence of representatives from countries that signed the Abraham Accords, as a result of the cool down in public ties between Israel and the signatory countries caused by the 2023 Gaza War.

In March 2025, Semafor reported that Massad Boulos would be appointed Special Envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region, reportedly due to American interest in securing a minerals deal. Despite the lack of official confirmation, the move was praised by Kenyan President William Ruto, saying that the nomination showed a commitment to peace and stability in Africa.

He was later confirmed as Senior Advisor for Africa, making him the State Department's most senior official to work in the continent. His appointment came after the White House failed three times to fill the position.

Personal life

Boulos holds Lebanese, French and American citizenship.

He married Sarah Fadoul Boulos, who was born in Burkina Faso. Circa 1986, she lived in Houston, Texas, and graduated in Biology at Houston Baptist University in 1994. In 1996, Sarah they moved to Lagos, Nigeria and Sarah worked at SCOA Nigeria as the Director of Trading and Logistics.

She is a philanthropist, entrepreneur and dance coach who in 2005 founded the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN) in a small studio in her garage, gradually increasing its profile in Nigerian society. Sarah mentions that SPAN has reached more than 10,000 youth since its inception. More recently, she has been a franchisee of Creative Education International (CrEd) Lagos Island. As of 2020 she worked overseeing the imports of her business, La Pointe Delicatessen in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Sarah and Massad are devout Christians. Together they have four children, Michael, Fares, Oriane and Sophie. In 2022, their son Michael married Tiffany Trump, daughter of Donald Trump. Fares is an actor who played a brief non-speaking role in ''The Crown.''

References

See also

* Boulos Enterprises

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulos, Massad
1971 births
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century Lebanese businesspeople
Boulos family
Businesspeople from Texas
Free Patriotic Movement politicians
Greek Orthodox Christians from Lebanon
Greek Orthodox Christians from the United States
Lebanese emigrants to the United States
Living people
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Nigerian people of Lebanese descent
People from Koura District
People with multiple citizenship
Second Trump administration personnel
Texas Republicans
University of Houston Law Center alumni
University of Houston alumni