By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

CAIRO - He was a small man, with a very neatly trimmed black mustache, seated in a corner, leaning forward on his walking stick, smiling, sipping Scotch . His face brightened as he reminisced about the dictator’s wife who once locked herself in the bathroom of his private jet and the star-studded, fiveday extravaganza he threw for his 50th birthday.

Oh, the memories of a fallen billionaire arms trader.

“My personal philosophy is I don’t regret matters that happen, good or bad,” said the man, Adnan M. Khashoggi, who is 74 years old and these days prefers to be remembered as “Mr. Fix It,” rather than the arms dealer involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration. “I just accept this as my destiny. It’s a personal attitude.”

Mr. Khashoggi has been linked to - but never convicted in - almost every major scandal of the late 20th century: Wedtech, B.C.C.I., the indictment of the Marcoses in the Philippines, as well as Iran-Contra. He is a favorite of conspiracy buffs, who have connected him to such things as the death of Princess Diana (her boyfriend at the time, Dodi al-Fayed, was his nephew) and to voting irregularities in Florida in the 2000 presidential election (a former employee was a local election official).

Now, he is trying to make a comeback. After a lifetime spent using his connections to make deals , he is working as a consultant, selling his connections.

Instead of commissions he gets “incentive pay.” He flies commercial now , which is a big change for a man who once had his own DC-8, and he lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the only property he still owned after the collapse of his empire. But he is far from broke, or at least manages to appear far from broke, which has always been the magic of Mr. Khashoggi.

“It is all part of the mechanism for impressing people, with your talk, with your views and with your appearance,” he said of his once-profligate ways.

Mr. Khashoggi was born into opportunity, if not outright privilege. His father was the personal physician to King Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the modern state of Saudi Arabia. He made $150,000 the summer after his first year at California State University, Chico, selling heavy trucks to Muhammad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s father. He attended Stanford University but never graduated. The lure of business was too great.

The kingdom had oil money and wanted to build up its military. Mr. Khashoggi showed it the way, becoming the link between American weapons manufacturers and the kingdom. He was a young man earning huge commissions. At one point he was called the richest man in the world, though on reflection it appears the more accurate title may have been the biggest spender in the world.

“Opportunity, when it knocks, you have to be able to open the door, and it knocked, what can I tell you,” Mr. Khashoggi said .

But his behavior also won him notoriety. He was the arms dealer in the Iran-Contra scandal, in which senior Reagan administration officials sent arms to Iran in violation of an arms embargo to secure the release of hostages and financing for the American-backed forces in Nicaragua.

He also was indicted - and acquitted - on charges that he helped the Marcos family loot hundreds of millions from the Philippine treasury before fleeing Manila. He had a reputation as a playboy and as someone who hired high-priced prostitutes to win over some of his clients and benefactors.

But he does not appear to be an introspective man.

“Where did I go wrong?” he asked “Nowhere.”


“My personal philosophy is I don’t regret matters that happen, good or bad.” / SHAWN BALDWIN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES