Oilman Must Pay $28.8 Million In Suit Over Pentagon Contract

Jury verdict in Fla. follows testimony alleging massive scheme to bribe Jordanian officials

PALM BEACH, Fla. — A billionaire oilman was ordered to pay $28.8 million to a member of the Jordanian royal family on Wednesday in a lawsuit arising from a business dispute over a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply fuel to U.S. troops in Iraq.

While the dispute between Mohammad al-Saleh, the brother-in-law of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III and his oil company was at the center of the case, the testimony often seemed to have sprung from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel, with allegations of bribery, double-crossing and war profiteering involving massive U.S. defense contracts leveled during the three week trial.

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