The résumé of Massad Boulos, Donald Trump’s recent pick as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, has reportedly been widely overstated in the media without apparent correction — until now.
Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman and father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, does not appear to be a billionaire, as he’s been previously described, The New York Times reported Thursday.Instead, he’s more accurately described as a “small-time truck salesman” in Nigeria, according to the paper.
Boulos is chief executive of SCOA Nigeria PLC, a company that sells trucks and heavy machinery in Nigeria, and is controlled by Boulos’s father-in-law.
The company made less than $66,000 in profit last year and is valued at $865,000, according to corporate records obtained by the Times. Boulos’s stake in the company, according to the records, is worth less than $2.
Trump has claimed Boulos is an “accomplished lawyer and a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene,” and media reports have described Boulos as getting a law degree from the University of Houston. The school told the Times it has no record of that.
Boulos Enterprises, a firm media reports have pointed to in connection with Boulos, actually belongs to a different family with the same last name, an officer there told the paper.
When asked earlier this year if reports that his company is a “multi-billion-dollar enterprise” were accurate, Boulos said he did not like to describe it that way. When pressed, he said his businesses were part of a “big company” that had a “long history” and could be described that way.
In an interview with the Times, Boulos said his father-in-law’s companies, including SCOA, are collectively worth more than $1 billion. He said that he didn’t immediately comment on media reports because “I’ve never really gone into any details like that about the value.”
The Independent has contacted the Trump transition team and SCOA Nigeria PLC for comment. It was unable to reach Boulos directly for comment.
Boulos, who helped the Trump campaign win over Arab-American voters during the election, isn’t the only member of the new administration who has faced questions about his background.
Trump attorney general pick Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration last month as the former congressman faced allegations he paid for sex and had sex with a minor, which he has always strongly denied.
The administration’s pick for secretary of defense, former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth, has been accused of rape and alcohol abuse, which he denies.
