According to AFP, the chief al-Qaeda financier was Mohammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, who used to be an accountant for the Saudi royal family. Arrested in Spain last April, Zouaydi had set up a number of money laundering operations in Europe in 1996-2001. The World Trade Center was extensively videotaped in 1997 by Ghassoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, one of Zouaydi's employees. The dummy corporations Zouaydi set up in Europe added $2.5 million to the funds available to the operation, according to the report, but this makes no sense. The money tended to be sent from the UAE, and the September 11 operation only cost $500,000. Something else is going on here, possibly 5 operations as big as September 11?

Zouaydi used to work for Saudi spymaster Prince Turki al-Faisal, who resigned after 20 years as head of Saudi foreign intelligence in early September, 2001.