Amer Abdulaziz Salman was better known in Australia by his horses.
Presently jailed for conspiracy to commit money laundering, his Phoenix Thoroughbreds raced dual group 1-winning mare Loving Gaby with Ciaron Maher and 2020 Golden Slipper winner Farnan with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
But it was the collapse of his global racing empire and sale of his horses in Australia that first drew the attention of Racing Victoria stewards.
Their inquiries would lead to his brother-in-law Nader AlaAli being fined $10,000 by the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Monday on a charge of giving misleading evidence during an interview.
The evidence in question related to AlaAli’s relationship to Salman.
The tribunal heard AlaAli bought horses off Salman in 2024, but when he was questioned by stewards about the sale he failed to reveal he was related to him.
“I’ve heard of him, I didn’t meet him at all,” is all he said.
At the start of this decade, Phoenix Thoroughbreds was one of the biggest investors in Australian race horses.
The organisation and another Australian-based buyer spent $11.6 million on 19 horses at the Magic Millions yearlings sale in 2021, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.
But things had already started to go awry for Salman.
The Dubai-based businessman was accused by a prosecution witness in a New York court in November 2019 of stealing more than $150 million in the billion-dollar OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme.
The fallout from that accusation was felt across the racing world.
Phoenix Thoroughbreds was banned from racing horses in France and the UK in 2021 because the business could not prove the source of its wealth. It was accused of buying horses with laundered money.
The issue spilled into Australia. Racing authorities in this country froze Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ prize money.
As a result, Salman sold his Australian horses to AlaAli in 2024.
The transaction took place between Salman’s Phoenix Thoroughbreds and AlaAli’s Australian-based business Brookdale Racing.
That was when Racing Victoria stewards stepped in. They interviewed AlaAli about the transfer of ownership because they were concerned about the sale being “legitimate”, the Victoria Racing Tribunal heard.
But when asked if he was aware of Salman, AlaAli told stewards he had heard of him but they had not met.
The tribunal found AlaAli’s answer was “clearly designed to suggest that he only has a fleeting acquaintance with this person”.
“His later acknowledgement that the man had been his brother-in-law for some 20 years and that he was well acquainted with him stands in complete contradiction to the clear implication from the way Mr AlaAli answered the questions,” the tribunal found.
“We do not consider that the question asked by stewards lacked clarity. It was a simple question.
“It may not have been necessary for Mr AlaAli to have volunteered that Mr Salman was his brother-in-law in answering the question posed to him, but it was certainly necessary for him to have not attempted to give the impression that his knowledge of him was marginal when he clearly knew him well.
“His response at this stage of the inquiry was incomplete and lacking in candour.”
The tribunal heard that AlaAli’s Brookdale Racing paid Salman’s Phoenix Thoroughbreds $3.17m for the horses.
His [AlaAli’s] response at this stage of the inquiry was incomplete and lacking in candour.
Victoria Racing Tribunal
Racing Victoria would later value the stock at “tens of millions” of dollars.
But AlaAli denied Brookdale Racing was a front for Phoenix Thoroughbreds when asked by stewards.
“No, no, we don’t have anything to do with Phoenix at all,” AlaAli replied. “I don’t have a need, personal or professional … Mr Salman, I didn’t meet him … only through David (Lucas) and in Dubai office of my contact”.
The tribunal found AlaAli’s response was “intentionally evasive, incomplete, and misleading in the extreme”.
AlaAli, a Bahrain-based businessman, was not well known in Australian racing. Stewards did not learn that he and Salman were brothers-in-law until March 2025 – seven months after their initial interview.
They only found out Salman was married to AlaAli’s sister after reading a Racing Post article in March 2025, the tribunal heard.
As a result, Stewards charged AlaAli with giving misleading evidence. Stewards found him guilty of the charge and fined him $20,000 in November 2025.
But AlaAli appealed the finding and the case was heard de novo – from the beginning – by the Victorian Racing Tribunal.
The tribunal found him guilty last month of breaching racing rule AR 232 (i) – giving misleading evidence during an interview – but reduced the fine from $20,000 to $10,000 at a hearing on Monday.
The tribunal panel consisted of deputy chairperson Judge Marilyn Harbison, Des Gleeson and Dr June Smith.
Salman is currently in jail.
He agreed to a plea deal for his role in the OneCoin fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in July last year for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
He is serving time at a low-security facility in Pennsylvania, with a release date of October 20.
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