- Mohammed bin Salman reportedly sent a vague threat to a Saudi official who refused to help appropriate property he wanted.
- He was given the nickname Abu Rasasa, which translates to “father of the bullet,” after the event.
- The story is just one of a number of different episodes told by in an investigative piece the New Yorker published on Monday.
A lengthy new profile on Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in The New Yorker reveals what the powerful millennial was like as a teenager.
MbS, as the crown prince is known, “brazenly used his status to enrich himself” as he was growing up in Saudi Arabia, according to New Yorker reporter Dexter Filkins.
One reported example involved MbS and a Saudi land-registry official. The crown prince reportedly demanded that the official “help him appropriate a property,” and when the official refused, he received an envelope that contained a single bullet.
MbS was apparently given the name “Abu Rasasa” by the people of Saudi Arabia. The nickname translates to “father of the bullet” in English.
A friend of the crown prince told The New Yorker that the story was true, but that MbS "realizes that he went too far toward some people in those days," and "has tried to make amends."
Another example of the crown prince's seemingly arrogant behavior in his younger days involved him pressuring a number of wealthy businessmen to put money directly into his personal investment fund.
He reportedly raised up to $30 million in just a few weeks.
"He's the son of [Saudi King Salman]," a friend of MbS told The New Yorker. "It's not like anyone was going to say no."
