The former chief executive of a Bahraini bank allegedly linked to a US$10 billion (Dh36.72bn) fraud in Saudi Arabia also produced independent American movies, The National has learnt.
Glenn Stewart, formerly the head of The International Banking Corporation (TIBC) in Bahrain, was credited as an executive producer of The Messenger, a 2009 film that was nominated for two Academy Awards in the US.
Mr Stewart was also among 14 executive producers of last year's New York I Love You, a series of vignettes about New York City starring Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke and Orlando Bloom.
In all, Mr Stewart appears in the credits of at least 12 US movies in 2008 and last year, including Dark Streets, a 2008 movie starring Bijou Phillips that was based on a play Mr Stewart wrote.
Dark Streets was described in a 2008 Hollywood Reporter article as "a film noir musical fantasy" that took cues from such classics as The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. It received mostly negative reviews from critics.
TIBC, the bank that Mr Stewart once headed, was taken under administration last year by the Bahraini central bank after it began to default on financial obligations in May and June. It has also received bankruptcy protection in the US.
The bank, which is owned by the Saudi group Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers, has been the subject of lawsuits in New York from Deutsche Bank and Mashreqbank, based in Dubai, relating to the defaults.
As with many banks, TIBC ran aground after liquidity dried up in the global credit crisis, Mr Stewart said.
Mr Stewart, who is restricted from travel outside of Bahrain, has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing relating to the defaults, or to accusations of a $10bn fraud brought by the Al Gosaibi group against Maan al Sanea, a Saudi billionaire who is alleged to have exercised control over TIBC, despite the bank being owned by the Al Gosaibis.
Mr al Sanea, who founded the Saudi conglomerate Saad Group, has denied those allegations.
Mr Stewart said his involvement in the movies for which he was credited as an executive producer was minimal. He helped set up financing for a production vehicle called Sherezade Films, which is based in Bahrain and registered in the Virgin Islands. Its German backers, he said, gave him executive director credits in exchange for his help.
"I didn't really do anything," he said. "These credits get handed out a little bit like candy to assuage people's egos."
Rachel Samuels, who directed the film version of Dark Streets, told Hollywood Reporter that she received a call one day, and "it was [from] Glenn Stewart, an American banker who's been based in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for the past 25 years.
"He started telling me about this stage musical that he had done that he wanted to make into a film, and that he had a small budget for," she told the trade publication.
"Before I knew it, I was flying to meet him at an airport in Munich. It all felt very secret agent. He's this international man of mystery; his passport is the size of a phone book. Each time I would talk to him on the phone, he was in a different country. It was sort of a fun little adventure."
The play, Mr Stewart said, was inspired by a long-standing desire to do something in theatre. "When at university, I directed a couple of plays and had interest in the theatre and the arts, but it seemed too dodgy," he said. "Over the years, I've harboured a desire to do something creative."
Mr Stewart has emerged as one of the more colourful characters in the Saad Group and Al Gosaibi saga, which has included mysterious gold transfers and the revelation that Mr al Sanea keeps a small zoo at his home in Al Khobar.
@Email:afitch@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company profile
Company name: Dharma
Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs
UAE%20SQUAD
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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ENGLAND%20SQUAD
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Vikram%20Vedha
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How%20to%20avoid%20getting%20scammed
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Company%20Profile
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DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
The%20pillars%20of%20the%20Dubai%20Metaverse%20Strategy
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Hamilton profile
Age 32
Country United Kingdom
Grands Prix entered 198
Pole positions 67
Wins 57
Podiums 110
Points 2,423
World Championships 3
The bio
Favourite book: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Favourite quote: “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist
Favourite Authors: Arab poet Abu At-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi
Favourite Emirati food: Luqaimat, a deep-fried dough soaked in date syrup
Hobbies: Reading and drawing
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
Results
5.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m
Winner Spirit Of Light, Clement Lecoeuvre (jockey), Erwan Charpy (trainer)
6.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner Bright Start, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
6.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner Twelfthofneverland, Nathan Crosse, Satish Seemar
7.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Imperial Empire, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
7.50pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m
Winner Record Man, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner Celtic Prince, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Company%20Profile
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TYPES%20OF%20ONLINE%20GIG%20WORK
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Company%C2%A0profile
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