A former private-equity tycoon in the Middle East has been ousted from the high-profile philanthropy group made up of some of the world’s wealthiest people.
The group, the Giving Pledge, a network of charitable donors tied to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, quietly cut ties with Arif Naqvi, the founder of the Abraaj Group, a private equity firm that has been accused of widespread fraud, said a spokesperson for the Giving Pledge. Mr. Naqvi, 64, is only the third person to be forcibly removed from the group of philanthropists, which has been one of the most venerated collections of wealth holders across the globe.
Mr. Naqvi’s name was, without announcement, removed from the Giving Pledge’s website this year, according to a New York Times review of its signatories.
“We can confirm that Arif Naqvi is no longer a member of the Giving Pledge community,” the Giving Pledge spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “Mr. Naqvi was removed from the Giving Pledge in May 2024, in accordance with the spirit and intention of the Giving Pledge community.”
Mr. Naqvi could not be reached for comment. Lawyers who had represented him in the past did not respond to requests for comment. He previously denied wrongdoing.
The Abraaj Group made international headlines in 2018 with its collapse. The firm, based in Dubai, specialized in emerging markets and controlled $14 billion in assets, some of which were from the Gates Foundation.
Mr. Naqvi, the firm’s public face, resigned in 2018 after allegations that he had misused investors’ funds. He was arrested in London in April 2019 and has been fighting extradition to the United States, where New York prosecutors indicted him in early 2019. He has also been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors and fined by Dubai’s financial regulator.
Mr. Naqvi traveled among the business elite. Born in Pakistan, he counted everyone from Bill Clinton to Prince Charles, and especially Mr. Gates, as his associates. In 2013, Mr. Naqvi joined the Giving Pledge, a community of billionaires who promise to donate over half of their wealth to charitable causes, and he spoke often about his philanthropy.
“One of the pillars of what I consider success is when I change the narrative of what people hear about Muslims,” Mr. Naqvi told Forbes in 2015. “Unless people like me stand up and change the narrative, it’s not going to change.”
The Giving Pledge community, steered by aides to Mr. Gates, takes a hands-off approach and does not direct its members’ donations, so the group is typically reluctant to weigh in on members’ conduct. It’s also not clear what it means to be removed from a voluntary commitment that the foundation does not enforce.
A few exceptions have arisen, though, when the group feels its brand is threatened by misconduct. In 2022, the Giving Pledge removed Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency mogul and former FTX chief, who had spoken relentlessly about his philanthropic giving, from its roster shortly after federal prosecutors charged him with fraud.
A few months later, in May 2023, the group cut ties with Denny Sanford, a South Dakota banking billionaire who was accused of peddling child sexual abuse material.
This summer, one donor took the rare step of removing himself from the network: Brian Armstrong, a founder of Coinbase who had joined only in 2019, left with no public explanation.
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