The Wall Street Journal reports that a global manhunt has begun for the billions of dollars in assets the Assad family secretly amassed during their half-century in power. From expensive real estate in Russia to boutique hotels in Vienna to private jets in Dubai, the Assad family’s wealth empire is under scrutiny.
The Assad Family: From Power to "Plan B"
Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, had held supreme power in Syria since 1970. During his 30-year rule, he laid the foundations for a secret financial network, relying on relatives to hide assets abroad. After Hafez died in 2000, Bashar al-Assad took over and continued to expand this vast fortune.
Some of the major assets recently discovered include luxury villas in Dubai, high-end hotels in Europe and anonymous investments in Russia. “They were well prepared for exile and had a Plan B to launder money long before the riots broke out,” said Andrew Tabler, a former White House official.
Although Bashar al-Assad fled Syria for Russia on December 8, ending 24 years in power, the Assad family continues to stir controversy as its power crumbles and its assets are scattered around the world.
The system of getting rich from corruption and drugs
A 2022 US State Department report estimated the Assad family’s wealth could range from $1 billion to $12 billion, largely amassed through state monopolies and drug trafficking, particularly captagon – an amphetamine that brought huge profits to the regime during a period of economic sanctions.
Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s younger brother, is the commander of the 4th Armored Division and runs a captagon smuggling network across the Middle East that the Syrian Economic Research Organization estimates brought in an average of $2.4 billion a year between 2020 and 2022.
In addition to drugs, the close relationship between the Assad clan and the Makhlouf family also plays a role. Rami Makhlouf, Bashar’s cousin, was once the regime’s “safe haven” with an estimated fortune of $10 billion. He invested in banking, media, and telecommunications, and has been the target of US sanctions since 2008.
However, the relationship broke down in 2020, when Bashar al-Assad moved to seize Rami's assets in the country, partly because of the bad image of the Makhlouf family when his sons showed off their lavish lifestyle in Dubai.
Legal battle to find assets
Human rights lawyers and international organizations are trying to trace the Assad family’s vast fortune. A Paris court in 2019 froze $95 million in real estate belonging to Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar’s uncle. The court concluded that the assets were obtained through money laundering.
Still, tracing and recovering assets remains fraught with difficulties. William Bourdon, a prominent human rights lawyer, stressed that money hidden in “tax havens” such as Dubai would be the most difficult to recover.
Lessons from the search for assets of leaders like Iraq's Saddam Hussein or Libya's Muammar Gaddafi show that such legal battles can drag on for years.
Meanwhile, the question of who will own the recovered assets remains open, as Syria is now in chaos with opposing factions vying for power.
The hunt for the Assad family’s “billion-dollar treasure” will be long and challenging. Some Syrians are taking matters into their own hands, looting an Assad family palace and taking its contents. Some have filmed themselves in a garage filled with Assad’s supercars, including Aston Martins and Lamborghinis.
