6 February 27 - March 5, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | TRÈS SHEIKH Francis Suarez proudly announces new Saudi investment office in Miami. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN W hile speaking at an investment conference hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in Miami Beach on Thursday, February 20, Miami mayor and Saudi Arabia frequent flyer Francis Suarez announced that the kingdom will open an investment office in Miami. “Today, we’re announcing that the Minis- try of Investment of Saudi Arabia is opening an ‘Invest Saudi’ office here in the city of Mi- ami to invest regionally,” Suarez said at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority conference as he sat alongside the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, H.R.H Reema Bandar Al-Saud, and the desert nation’s minister of investment, H.E. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih. For the third year in a row, Suarez spoke at the FII Priority trade summit, which he helped usher to Miami in 2023. Armed with the City of Miami seal and his public position as mayor, Suarez has assisted in bringing press and legitimacy to the kingdom’s global invest- ment efforts to reshape its bloody reputation of violating human rights, including the mur- der of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. “It seems like it was just yesterday when I was in Riyadh announcing that FII was com- ing to Miami,” Suarez said ahead of his an- nouncement. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, created the nonprofit FII Institute in 2017 to make an “impact on humanity” through investment. In 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to by his initials, MBS, established the institute by royal decree. Mi- ami’s mayor has worked closely with MBS’ right-hand man, PIF governor, and FII Insti- tute chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as the re- pressive regime works to whitewash its reputation. Meanwhile, in 2023 and 2024, the U.S. Senate opened probes to investigate Saudi Arabia’s stateside influence via the PIF and how it could be a risk to the American. econ- omy; those inquiries are ongoing. Human Rights Watch also reached out to Suarez’s of- fice earlier this month to learn more about its relationship with the PIF and Saudi officials but did not receive a response. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), tells New Times that it is concern- ing to see Suarez promoting the PIF given the country’s record of abuses and the nearly $1 trillion fund at its disposal, which the king- dom could use to exert its political influence. After Suarez spoke on the “Enabling Pur- pose: How to Create Resilient Economics for Uncertain Times” panel with Al-Falih and Citadel CEO (and recent Miami transplant) Ken Griffin on Thursday, the investment minister thanked him for being a believer in the kingdom and its “equity story.” “The mayor has been coming for a number of years,” Al-Falih shared onstage. “I met him for the first time in Jeddah and then we went to Riyadh. He met his royal highness and he’s been a regular visitor.” Al-Falih noted that Suarez extended “a very strong invitation” for the FII to host its summit in Miami and for the kingdom to use the Magic City as a gateway to the U.S. and South America. The investment minister added that Saudi offi- cials come regularly to Miami to meet with the mayor. “So by selecting Miami as our second office for ‘Invest Saudi’ after Washing- ton where we’re un- der the good care of your Royal Highness Princess Reema, we’re opening new path- ways for inbound investment into the King- dom of Saudi Arabia but also for facilitating outbound investment,” Al-Falih said. “Be- cause as I mentioned a few minutes ago, the kingdom will continue to be a global investor as part of our strategy” to be more connected with the global economy. In addition to his work with the kingdom through his public office, Suarez’s employer, international litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, represents the PIF. The conference only identified him as the Miami mayor for his speaking engagements. Otherwise, his attendee profile in the FII Priority mobile app lists his job as an attorney for the firm. The mayor spoke again on February 21 at an hourlong invite-only “conclave” entitled “Capital and Strategic Partnership; the Saudi- U.S. Investment Agenda,” with the invest- ment minister and the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. “As both nations deepen economic ties, what strategies and policy frameworks are needed to maximize the impact of these in- vestments while fostering long-term collabo- ration?” the conclave’s description reads. Two months ago, Suarez spoke at another Saudi-Arabian conference about the coun- try’s tourism industry. The summit featured the kingdom’s minister of tourism and the FII Institute CEO, Richard Attias. Suarez partici- pated in another tourism panel in November 2024 with Saleh Aloraini, the CEO of Soudah Development, a real estate company owned by the PIF. Last August, Suarez was back in Saudi Arabia for the Esports World Cup clos- ing ceremony, sitting in the same row as the crown prince. Notably, FII Priority took place in Miami Beach, a municipality located across Biscayne Bay from the city over which Suarez presides as mayor. The two cities do have one thing in common: a so-called weak mayor system, in which a city manager runs day-to-day opera- tions and the mayor holds only slightly more sway than his fellow commissioners on the city hall dais. Moreover, Miami Beach and Miami are part of Miami-Dade County, which encompasses no fewer than 34 sepa- rate municipalities, as well as scattered unin- corporated areas — and which operates under a strong-mayor system in the person of Daniella Levine Cava. But you wouldn’t know that if you listened to Suarez boast about his realm. While Suarez maintains that he has not been paid to speak at the FII Institute confer- ences, Whitson, the executive director of DAWN, says the kingdom tends to award U.S. government officials for their services after leaving office. She points to Suarez’s fellow Miami resident and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose private equity firm got a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund after Kushner left the White House. “The first thing I demand from Suarez is a promise that he will not seek to do any busi- ness transactions with Saudi Arabia or [its] agencies for a good chunk of time after he leaves office,” Whitson says. She encourages Miami residents to thor- oughly research what the city is committing to with the opening of the new investment office. [email protected] Francis Suarez shared that Saudi Arabia is opening its second U.S. investment office in Miami at the 2025 FII Priority Summit on February 20. Screenshot via YouTube | METRO | “THE MAYOR HAS BEEN COMING FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS,” AL- FALIH SHARED ONSTAGE.
