U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown(D-OH) have expressed security concerns regarding a golf league merger that includes Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and Brown, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee chairman, have forwarded correspondence to Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regarding LIV Golf and its merger with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
“Saudi Arabia has a repressive government, known for chilling dissent, jailing dissidents, and enacting draconian punishments,” the legislators wrote. “Notably, the Crown Prince himself was implicated in the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. Intelligence Community, in a February 2021 assessment declassified by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, concluded that the Crown Prince approved the operation to commit this horrific crime.”
The lawmakers cited in the letter the CFIUS has jurisdiction over transactions resulting in foreign government control, transactions involving companies maintaining or collecting sensitive personal data of domestic citizens and certain real estate transactions, among other transactions.
“As several U.S. government agencies evaluate this announced merger and reviews its compliance with existing law and regulations, we request that CFIUS assess the nature of this merger to determine whether it has jurisdiction over the transaction, and if so, resolve any national security risks related to the transaction,” the legislators concluded.