A Prince’s Uncertain Fate Deepens Mystery in Saudi Arabia

The arrest of Prince Alwaleed, however, has seemingly made some skittish and is likely to slow the pace of investment, at least in the short term.

“When people talk about where to invest outside of the U.S., you always hear the term ‘rule of law,’” said Mr. Parsons, who was among a dozen or so American executives who spoke to me about their concerns, most asking for anonymity so as not to upset their relationship with the Saudis.

“It’s easy to take for granted if nothing untoward has happened or there hasn’t been any turbulence,” he said. “As soon as you see something that is difficult to understand in terms of how investors and investments are being treated, ‘rule of law’ all of sudden leaps up off the canvas.”

Several executives who do business in the kingdom said it wasn’t the mass arrests of other public officials or elites that concerned them so much as the arrest of Prince Alwaleed himself. It put a prominent face on the unsettling news.

His arrest has led to rampant speculation about the charges against him, with many questioning whether the kingdom might seek to take over his ownership of Rotana, the largest entertainment company in the region. The kingdom has sought more and more control over messaging, and Rotana owns television, film, music, magazine and radio assets.

Some close to the prince privately question why, if he was under investigation, the government granted him permission to acquire a 16 percent stake in Saudi Fransi from Crédit Agricole for $1.5 billion in September — one of the largest finance deals in the country. The deal required the approval of regulators who would have surely known about the inquiry. The crown prince told Mr. Friedman that government had been working on the corruption cases for the past two years.

Within the world of Silicon Valley, which the crown prince has been assiduously courting over the past several years — including a trip last year when he met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive — there are lingering questions about the implications of taking money from the country. Saudi Arabia took a direct stake in Uber, for example, and through its investment in Softbank’s Vision Fund it has acquired pieces of companies like WeWork and Slack. Privately, some investors also grumble about the close ties that the Saudi government has with President Trump, an unpopular figure with many in Silicon Valley.

Uber’s new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, told me two weeks ago that the company had discussed whether to take the Saudi money. “I wasn’t there, but at the time when we took the money — because I asked the team about it — the company definitely talked about it,” he said. “And I’d say the most important issue for the company was the women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.”

He added: “And the company explicitly talked about how we actually believe that women should be able to drive. And since then, the changes that we’re seeing — the cultural changes that we’re seeing in Saudi Arabia — they are unambiguously positive.”

With some more transparency and answers about the fate of Prince Alwaleed, many more American business executives and investors would feel the same way.