Ray McGuire catching heat for Saudi ties at Citigroup
Raymond J. McGuire (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Mayoral candidate Ray McGuire represented a government-owned Saudi Arabian petrochemical company more than a decade ago, at a time when the Middle Eastern nation was coming under attacks for human rights abuses.
During his time as a bank executive at Citigroup, McGuire acted on behalf of the Saudi-owned SABIC in its acquisition of GE Plastics in 2007.
SABIC — which, according to its website, was founded “by royal decree” in 1976 — acquired the Massachusetts-based plastics company for $12 billion. The company is a subsidiary of government-owned Saudi Aramco, which controls about 10% of the world’s oil production.
The SABIC-GE deal — and McGuire’s connection to the Saudi government through his work at Citigroup — is now receiving scrutiny as he battles a crowded field of candidates in the run-up to this June’s Democratic primary.
“This is so horrid,” said Allen Roskoff, a gay rights activist and president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. “But it happened. And all that McGuire did was take the cash.”
Gay people living in Saudi Arabia have lived in fear of the monarchy that governs the oil-rich country for decades, with punishments for same-sex relationships ranging from beatings to the death penalty.
“If you are gay in Saudi Arabia, you’re a criminal, and the Saudi government — McGuire’s business partners — will kill you,” Roskoff added. “Where does McGuire get the nerve to think he can be our mayor?”
McGuire, a Democrat, has positioned himself as an up-from-his-bootstraps candidate who could apply the business acumen he honed on Wall Street to the city’s fiscal morass. On Tuesday, he announced plans to bring back half a million jobs through measures that include salary subsidies to small businesses.
Criticisms from Roskoff and others come after the Daily News revealed earlier this month that McGuire also served as a banker for the Koch brothers, who for years have been roundly reviled by Democrats for backing ultra-conservative causes.
Lupe Todd-Medina, a spokeswoman for McGuire, said the former bank executive’s work with SABIC actually saved GE from imploding.
“What this deal actually did is help save General Electric, an iconic American company, from collapse at the start of the 2008 global financial crisis,” she said. “Ray’s business experience and problem-solving skills are exactly what New York needs for the most inclusive recovery and comeback in city history.”
At the time McGuire handled the SABIC deal, the Saudi ruling family owned a piece of Citigroup. That year, it owned more than 3% of the bank, and a year later Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal increased its stake to 5%.
The Saudi Arabian government remains notorious for its human rights abuses and the murder of dissident Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 is believed by intelligence officials to have been ordered by the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
In 2019, the kingdom executed 184 people, the highest number of state-sanctioned killings by any country in one year, according to Amnesty International.
In 2007, when McGuire was handling the SABIC deal, the Saudi government executed 158 people. That same year, 16 men were arrested, and years later convicted, after attempting to set up a human rights organization.
2018 was the first year women were granted the right to drive in Saudi Arabia.
Women’s rights activists are also not pleased with McGuire’s Saudi connection.
“While other candidates trying to become the next mayor were working as public servants, Ray was orchestrating deals with the Saudis, a government that murders its gay citizens by beheading and saves stonings for its adulterous women,” said Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women. “It’s something worth contemplating.”