Humiliation: This image, passed to DailyMail.com by sources inside the Saudi government, shows what were some of the country's most powerful men - sleeping on thin mattresses in the function room of the Ritz Carlton
In a photo obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com the men are seen gathered together at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, inside one of its glittering function rooms - wrapped in blankets and sleeping on thin mattresses.
Saudi sources say that among those photographed in the room are billionaire investor Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who is a nephew of the king, worth an estimated $18 billion and owns stakes in Twitter, Lyft and Citigroup.
The photograph was revealed as President Trump went all-in supporting the man who ordered the mass arrests, Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ferociously ambitious 32-year-old heir to the throne.
Comment: But is all well between Saudi Arabia and the US?
© AFP/Getty Images
'....Some of those they are harshly treating have been "milking" their country for years!'
The intervention places the U.S. squarely behind the crown prince and may be partly personally motivated: Prince Al-Waleed was a vocal personal critic of Trump in the run-up to his election.
The photograph of princes on bare mattresses show the depth of their fall. Although DailyMail.com has no way of verifying the claims from inside the closed kingdom, claims that the arrested men were being held at the Ritz Carlton have circulated widely.
Those arrested have been locked in the five star hotel as the sweeping anti-corruption probe ordered by Saudi King Salman's son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, continues.
He is being held along with 10 other princes and 38 officials following an historic weekend shakeup of the Kingdom's royal family.
© ReutersHow it was: The men appear to be sleeping in this room, which last month hosted the Future Investment Conference. Among those who used the event to highlight the kingdom's future was Prince Al-Waleed - who now finds himself sleeping on its floor
© Trip AdvisorA happy vacationer posted this picture of what appears to be the room where the arrested men are being held
Palace Intrigue: How Jared played a role in crack downThe reshuffling happened as Saudi King Salman swore in new officials to replace those arrested. Rumors swirled the royals were receiving five-star accommodations when the Ritz Carlton was evacuated Saturday.
The crown prince has a key ally in President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
The Washington Post's David Ignatius wrote that it was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who Kushner visited with on his secret trip to Saudi Arabia last month, as the president's son-in-law made his third trek to the country since Trump's swearing-in.
'The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy,' Ignatius wrote, dubbing Kushner, a scion to a New York real estate family, a 'prince' as well.
Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS for short, has bonded with Kushner and been embraced by the Trump inner circle for being both a 'wealthy tycoon' and a 'populist insurgent,' Ignatius noted.
But our photo shows their sleeping arrangements are far from luxurious - treatment few among the group will be used to.
Ironically they are huddled on the floor of one of the grand function rooms which last month played host to the Future Investment Conference, a gathering of world business leaders which Prince Mohammed used to highlight his commitment to turning Saudi Arabia to 'moderate Islam' - and which some of those arrested attended.
Comment: Be careful there, Prince Mohammed. If Saudi Arabia goes moderate, hell might freeze.
Al-Waleed used the conference to speak to CNBC about the flotation of oil giant Saudi Aramco - words which may well be his last in public life.
The hotel also played host to Donald Trump when he visited the kingdom, on his first foreign trip earlier this year, and it was where he met the crown prince.
The arrests that began late Saturday included Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who for the past four years had led the National Guard, and Prince Adel Fakeih, who was minister of economy since April.
Prince Miteb was once considered a contender for the throne, though he has not been thought of recently as a challenger to Prince Mohammed.
The men were reportedly arrested in a crackdown that the attorney general described as 'phase one'.
Prince Al-Waleed is accused of money laundering, bribery and extorting officials, an official told Reuters on Sunday. [VIDEO]
The campaign of arrests lengthens an already daunting list of challenges undertaken by the 32-year-old king since his father, King Salman, ascended the throne in 2015.
Those include going to war in Yemen, cranking up Riyadh's confrontation with arch-foe Iran and reforming the economy to lessen its reliance on oil.
Both allies and adversaries are quietly astounded that a kingdom once obsessed with stability has acquired such a taste for assertive policy-making.
'The kingdom is at a crossroads: Its economy has flatlined with low oil prices; the war in Yemen is a quagmire; the blockade of Qatar is a failure; Iranian influence is rampant in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq; and the succession is a question mark,' wrote ex-CIA official Bruce Riedel for Reuters.
'It is the most volatile period in Saudi history in over a half-century.'
Comment: How Mohammed bin Salman plays his foreign policy cards will tel us much about what this royal coup is all about. Will the prince become more openly aggressive towards the kingdom's enemies?
The crackdown has drawn no public opposition within the kingdom either on the street or on social media.
Many ordinary Saudis applauded the arrests, the latest in a string of domestic and international moves asserting the prince's authority.
But abroad, critics perceive the purge as further evidence of intolerance from a power-hungry leader keen to stop influential opponents blocking his economic reforms or reversing the expansion of his political clout.
Prominent Saudi columnist Jamal Kashoggi applauded the campaign, but warned: 'He is imposing very selective justice.'
'The crackdown on even the most constructive criticism - the demand for complete loyalty with a significant 'or else' - remains a serious challenge to the crown prince´s desire to be seen as a modern, enlightened leader.'
'The buck stops at the leader's door. He is not above the standard he is now setting for the rest of his family, and for the country,' he wrote in the Washington Post.
© ReutersThe Ritz Carlton in Riyadh was used as a prison for corrupt ministers and princes
Al Tayyar Travel plunged 10 percent in the opening minutes after the company quoted media reports as saying board member Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar had been detained in the anti-corruption drive.
Saudi Aseer Trading, Tourism and Manufacturing and Red Sea International separately reported normal operations after the reported detentions of board members Abdullah Saleh Kamel, Khalid al-Mulheim and Amr al-Dabbagh.
Saudi banks have begun freezing suspects' accounts, sources told Reuters.
The attorney general said on Monday detainees had been questioned and 'a great deal of evidence' had been gathered.
'Yesterday [Sunday] does not represent the start, but the completion of Phase One of our anti-corruption push,' Saud al-Mojeb said. Probes were done discreetly 'to preserve the integrity of the legal proceedings and ensure there was no flight from justice.'
© CNBC
© EPA
Investigators had been collecting evidence for three years and would 'continue to identify culprits, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions and bring offenders to justice', anti-graft committee member Khalid bin Abdulmohsen Al-Mehaisen said.
The front page of leading Saudi newspaper Okaz challenged businessmen to reveal the sources of their assets, asking: 'Where did you get this?'
Another headline from Saudi-owned al-Hayat warned: 'After the launch (of the anti-corruption drive), the noose tightens, whomever you are!'
A no-fly list has been drawn up and security forces in some Saudi airports were barring owners of private jets from taking off without a permit, pan-Arab daily Al-Asharq Al-Awsat said.
© AFP/Getty ImagesMilitary man: Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who for the past four years had led the National Guard, is among those arrested
'It's mostly princes from the previous system who made a lot of money in business. That's the common denominator,' Steffen Hertog of the London School of Economics told Reuters.
'Perhaps they can't go after all at the same time so possibly ones who are least popular or have a beef with the current leadership (have been held). It's pretty systematic.'
© Altayyar group/WikipediaAnother arrest: Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar was president of a large travel group, whose shares plunged
Comment: Yes, it was politicized, but there is a certain degree of unjustified optimism in the statement above. Do they really think that the move will rid the country from corruption and immunity for those in power - and perhaps even open the way to democratic and liberal reforms? We wouldn't hold our breaths.
Yet many analysts were puzzled by the targeting of technocrats like ousted Economy Minister Adel Faqieh and prominent businessmen on whom the kingdom is counting to boost the private sector and wean the economy off oil.
'It seems to run so counter to the long-term goal of foreign investment and more domestic investment and a strengthened private sector,' said Greg Gause, a Gulf expert at Texas A&M University.
'If your goal really is anti-corruption, then you bring some cases. You don´t just arrest a bunch of really high-ranking people and emphasise that the rule of law is not really what guides your actions.'
Over the past year, the crown prince has become the top decision-maker on military, foreign and economic policy, championing subsidy cuts, state asset sales and a government efficiency drive.
The reforms have been well-received by much of Saudi Arabia's overwhelmingly young population, but resented among some of the more conservative old guard.
The crown prince has also led Saudi Arabia into a two-year-old war in Yemen, where the government says it is fighting Iran-aligned militants, and into a dispute with Qatar, which it accuses of backing terrorists, a charge Doha denies. Detractors of the crown prince say both moves are dangerous adventurism.
The Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it would temporarily close all air, land and sea ports to Yemen to stem the flow of arms from Iran to Houthi rebels after a missile fired towards Riyadh was intercepted over the weekend.
Comment: For a timeline of events leading to this crackdown, see:
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