Jeff Bezos was far from the only American VIP who met Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in spring 2018. During a coast-to-coast tour Mohammed bin Salman had personal encounters with dozens of celebrities, politicians and tech titans including George Bush, Sir Richard Branson and Bill Gates.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed with Bill Gates at the Microsoft founder’s residence in Seattle. Photograph: Balkis Press/ABACA/PA Images

The meetings were seen at the time as an attempt by Prince Mohammed to project a more modern image of Saudi Arabia and attract significant new investment in the kingdom as part of his “Vision 2030” programme.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed with Richard Branson during his visit to the Virgin Galactic company. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

It is not publicly known whether Prince Mohammed exchanged WhatsApp messages with anyone other than Bezos, however there have previously been unconfirmed reports that he used the messaging platform to chat with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, potentially raising questions about the security of any such communications.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Meeting Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Two years ago sources told online news site the Intercept that Prince Mohammed had told Saudi associates he had Kushner, a senior aide to Trump, “in his pocket”. It went on to cite two sources who claimed Kushner was exchanging WhatsApp messages directly with Saudi princes. Separately, CNN said at the time it had confirmed through a source in the Saudi royal court that Kushner was communicating with Prince Mohammed directly through WhatsApp.

Kushner’s representatives dismissed questions from the Intercept about his contacts with Saudi officials.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed is welcomed by one of the Google co-founders, Sergey Brin, as he visits Silicon Valley. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Forty-nine other people are named as either having attended or been scheduled to attend direct meetings with the crown prince in contemporaneous press releases by the Saudi embassy in Washington. A further dozen were reported by various media organisations as having had meetings with him.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed meets the former US president Bill Clinton in New York. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg are among those reported to have met with Prince Mohammed by the New York Times, some of whom are pictured shaking hands and laughing with him.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christine Lagarde and Prince Mohammed. Photograph: Twitter

Heads of business and finance, including the then head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, the then Goldman Sachs boss, Lloyd Blankfein, and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son also had personal meetings with the crown prince during the trip.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed and António Guterres. Photograph: Saudi Press Agency

The Democrat senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and António Gutteres, the secretary general of the United Nations, have also been pictured meeting with Prince Mohammed.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Mohammed meets Michael Bloomberg at a cafe in New York. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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