Samer Foz (; born May 20, 1973), also known as ''Samer Zuhair Foz'', is a Syrian businessman with close ties to the former Ba’athist Syrian government of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

Business activities

He is the Chairman and General Manager of Aman Holding, which was formerly known as the Aman Group, which owns the

Four Seasons Hotel Damascus The Four Seasons Hotel Damascus () is a 297-room five-star hotel and was part of the Toronto-based Four Seasons luxury hotels and resorts from 2005 to June 19, 2019. It is located in the central district neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, near the ...

. The company acquired the stake of Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in the hotel during his detention at the Ritz Carlton amid the

Saudi purge Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

. The Syrian government holds the second largest stakeholder in the hotel. In August 2017, Aman Group announced a partnership with

Damascus governorate Damascus Governorate ( ') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. Completely surrounded by the Rif Dimashq Governorate, it consists only of the city of Damascus, the capital of Syria. The governorate's area is around 107 km2, ...

, under its company Damascus Cham Holding, in building a luxury development called

Marota City Marota City is an under-construction development project in Damascus, Syria. It is a mixed-use development project near Umayyad Square. The project is viewed as a post-war reconstruction efforts to progress Syria after the Syrian civil war, years- ...

in the Basateen al-Razi area in the Mezzeh district of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. In November 2017, Damascus Cham Holding granted Aman Group the right to develop real estate projects worth $312m as part of the project. His business interests significantly expanded during the Syrian civil war into aviation, the cable industry, steel, sugar, car assembly and distribution, hotel management, real estate development, pharmaceuticals and banking.

Controversies

Sanctions

He is sanctioned by the European Union and US Treasury for having "leveraged the atrocities of the Syrian conflict into a profit-generating enterprise nd beingdirectly supporting the murderous Assad regime and building luxury developments on land stolen from those fleeing his brutality."

Facilitation of trade with ISIS

Samer Foz reportedly transported grain from Syrian government-controlled areas to territory controlled by

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

. According to other reports, he also moved wheat from ISIS-controlled areas through Turkey into Syrian regime-controlled territory.

References

People named in the Panama Papers Syrian businesspeople Living people 1973 births People of the Syrian civil war Sanctioned due to Syrian civil war Syrian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Syrian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions Syrian oligarchs {{Syria-bio-stub