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Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, is the latest and one of the most prominent business executives to withdraw from a Saudi investment conference in Riyadh this month. here after Saudi agents allegedly killed dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A spokesman for JPMorgan confirmed that Mr. Dimon "no longer attends" at the event. He refused to say why or to comment further.
And in what could be an even bigger withdrawal from the event, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is now wondering if he should attend – after declaring last week that he was planning on going there.
"We will evaluate the information that will be published this week," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
Dimon follows close to a dozen other leaders from the technology, media and entertainment sectors who have withdrawn from the conference titled Future Investment Initiative, nicknamed "Davos in the Desert". cited the alleged killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month as the reason for their withdrawal.
The relationship with Saudi Arabia is important for Wall Street leaders such as Dimon, as it is a major investor in the world and makes important deals with Western financial companies. Saudi Arabia, for example, has hired JPMorgan and other large banks to help sell government bonds in recent years. Western banks are also hoping to help the kingdom privatize its oil giant, Saudi Aramco, although the country's plans for an initial public offering appear to have stalled.
It is not clear whether the decisions made by Dimon or other financial officials regarding participation in the conference will have long-term consequences on trade relations between the oil-rich country and the Wall Street companies. . Mnuchin's decision not to attend would be a reprimand from the Trump administration of the Saudis, although the fact that it is accompanied or not by other punishments is unclear.
The Saudi conference is part of the efforts of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to modernize the kingdom's economy and diversify it away from oil. The Crown Prince has also promoted other projects aimed at attracting more foreign investment to the country, including the NEOM project, which aims to create a technological and tourism hub in the north-west of the country.
Western leaders of the tech industry have moved away from NEOM after the alleged Khashoggi massacre. Sam Altman, chairman of junior investment company Y Combinator, said last week that he was suspending his participation in the NEOM advisory board "until the facts about Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance are known."
On Thursday, a spokesman for Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, a sister company to Google, said NEOM had been "incorrect" to include Doctoroff on his list of advisory board members. Doctoroff "is not a member" of the board of directors, said the spokesman.
The Turkish government told US officials that it had audio and video recordings proving that Khashoggi had been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month. Saudi officials have denied any involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance, saying he had left the consulate shortly after his arrival.
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