Bad Luck day in 1979:
Sheikh Bakhsh's banker, Khalid bin Mahfouz, now 73, is the son of the founder of the leading bank in Saudi Arabia, the National Commercial Bank, founded in 1950. In the 70's the Mahfouz family joined the Hunt brothers of Texas in cornering the world silver market in an attempt to manipulate the price. Silver prices rose more than 2500% before regulatory changes eventually put an end to the gambit, but not before a near financial panic worldwide. The Hunt brothers declared bankruptcy and many investors suffered huge losses as prices dropped precipitously, achieving a single day decline of 50% on March 27, 1979. Although the Mahfouz family sold its 20% stake in BCCI, during their involvement with the bank they reportedly used it as a private cash register, obtaining over $175 million in unsecured loans.
