The Aman Infiltration: How a Global Money Laundering Kingpin Tainted a $3 Billion Hotel Brand

Last month, Whale Hunting exclusively reported how Benjamin Mauerberger, a global money laundering kingpin, had infiltrated the Aman Group – one of the world’s most luxurious hotel chains. We reported how fronts for Mauerberger invested in Janu Dubai, a $1.5 billion hotel in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, as well as other Aman projects.

Since our reporting, Aman has put the Dubai project on the back burner as it fights fires, including angry questions from panicked shareholders and a growing criminal global investigation into the Mauerberger network, spanning Singapore, Thailand, and the U.S.

For Aman, which is involved in some of the U.S.’s largest new hotel projects in Beverly Hills and Miami Beach, the connection to Mauerberger is toxic. The South African is wanted in Thailand for laundering billions of dollars in proceeds from scam centers, drugs, and human trafficking.

The Mauerberger network stole billions from Americans and laundered the money using Tether and other cryptocurrencies. The victims are American teens who kill themselves after being extorted, or retirees who lose their life savings. Those conducting the scams in Southeast Asia are victims too, forced to work 17-hour days under the threat of torture and rape by Chinese mafia.

After Whale Hunting’s reporting, minority shareholders in Aman, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Cain International, are demanding to know how this money tainted a brand valued at $3 billion. As law enforcement closes in on Mauerberger, who is now on the run, a civil war is brewing in the Aman boardroom.

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