Trump team denies report that Mideast adviser is not actually a billionaire lawyer

The Trump transition team denies a New York Times report that claimed the US president-elect’s new Mideast adviser is not the billionaire lawyer as was previously believed.

The Times was “falsely attacking Mr. Massad Boulos and his family’s long history of running successful companies as part of their mission to derail President Trump’s agenda and exceptional team,” the Trump transition statement asserts.

After the election, Massad Boulos was lauded by Trump as “an accomplished lawyer and highly respected leader in the business world” — a description echoed in media reports about the appointment, which discussed his supposed family business, Boulos Enterprises.

Asked in an October interview with The Times whether reports were correct that the company was a “multibillion-dollar enterprise,” Boulos responded affirmatively.

He did not mention, however, that he has no connection to the company, which takes its name from a different Boulos family. Asked why he didn’t correct the record, the Lebanese-American businessman told NYT that he made a practice of not commenting on his business.

In its response denying the NYT report, the Trump transition team says, “The truth is Mr. Boulos is a highly respected businessman who has proudly served as the CEO of some of his family’s group of companies based in West Africa for more than 27 years and his family has employed tens of thousands of people around the globe.”

The statement insists that Boulos has degrees in both business and law.

It also says that Boulos’s Scoa Nigeria PLC and his wife’s Fadoul Group “have developed into a family group with over $1 Billion USD in value and hundreds of millions in assets.”

NYT reported that Boulos had told the newspaper that most of his wealth came from his wife Sarah Fadoul Boulos.

“Scoa and the other family group companies have been very successful in the Nigerian market providing high-end products and specialized services to the largest companies in the country,” the Trump transition statement says.