Bob Stefanowski confirms consulting work in Saudi Arabia; reduced 98% due to campaign

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski doubled his income in recent years while he was working as a consultant for an entity in Saudi Arabia, officials said Wednesday.

Stefanowski had repeatedly refused to name any of his clients as a consultant, saying that he was bound by strict nondisclosure agreements that prevented him from talking. But that changed Wednesday after a story by Hearst Connecticut Media about his ties to Saudi Arabia.

In a conference call and a statement to reporters, Stefanowski confirmed he works for a company called NEOM, saying that he did not work for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is an investor in NEOM. Stefanowski said he had visited Saudi Arabia in recent years but never lived there as he worked on a project to reduce global warming.

“Air Products, Inc. based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has teamed up with two Saudi companies – ACWA Power and NEOM – to build the largest green hydrogen facility in the world,’' he said. “The plant will be located in the Middle East as the unique combination of the sun during the day and wind at night provides the most effective conditions for renewable energy in the world.’'

The facility will produce green-hydrogen-based ammonia for export to international markets and use in the Saudi city of the future, NEOM CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr has said.

Since he is now spending most of this time campaigning against Gov. Ned Lamont in the Nov, 8 election, Stefanowski said he has scaled back his Saudi work by 98%. He declined to reveal the number of hours that he worked in recent years but said it was not a full-time job.

Lamont declined to comment to reporters outside the state Capitol, saying that he had just learned about the disclosures and did not “want to jump to any conclusions.’' He said he would comment on Thursday.

“I hope Governor Lamont doesn’t try to make a political issue out of this,’' Stefanowski told reporters. “I suspect he will because he doesn’t want to talk about the economy. You’ve got a project that [Democrat] John Kerry went over to look at. He views it as one of the most important projects in the world. John Kerry is Joe Biden’s czar on global climate change. You’ve got a project that’s been endorsed by Kerry. It’s been endorsed by the president. ... I don’t really think a lot of this does matter to the residents of Connecticut, but we’ll see where the governor takes it.’'

When asked if he ever met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Stefanowski responded, “I can’t discuss the people. My NDA doesn’t allow me to discuss who, when or where I’ve met with. I can just talk about this project. I can’t comment on specific meetings. If I start answering, then what about this person, what about that person? I don’t have the authority to talk about it.’'

Known as MBS, the Saudi prime minister has come under intense scrutiny for his country’s human rights abuses and the high-profile killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

A multimillionaire, Stefanowski has had high earnings for years. His federal tax returns show that his total income jumped to $15.7 million in 2020 and $13.6 million in 2021 — a sharp uptick from his 2019 total of $7.38 million.

A small number of Stefanowski supporters knew about his ties to Saudi Arabia for more than two years, but the issue did not become public.

The crown prince has been heavily involved in the construction of the new city in Saudi Arabia named Neom. The city of the future is designed to be an international tourist destination and the region could eventually cover more than 10,000 square miles, double the size of Connecticut. The city would have the latest technologies, including robots, and extensive use of solar and wind power that would provide electricity.

Stefanowski has been working on the portion of the massive project that involves a three-way venture to construct the world’s largest green hydrogen plant that is also one of the world’s largest renewable energy projects.

The construction of the city, still in the early stages, is funded by the nation’s huge oil wealth and partly by the mammoth Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

The megaproject could eventually cost $500 billion, and its construction is taking place north of the Red Sea in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

While Stefanowski had asked supporters to keep his work confidential over the past two years, on Wednesday he said, “I’m not concerned about the political blowback.’'

Stefanowski said he could talk about Lamont’s friend, Greenwich hedge fund founder Ray Dalio, because it was public information about his ties to Saudi Arabia.

“That is unrelated to the project I’m working on,’' Stefanowski said. “That relates to Neom itself in Saudi Arabia and how he helps Neom raise capital and raise money. ... This is nothing negative on Mr. Dalio. But I think Governor Lamont needs to be very, very careful here about not being hypocritical.’'

Stefanowski’s ties to Saudi Arabia were first revealed last month by Hartford Courant columnist Kevin F. Rennie, who reported that Stefanowski’s consulting firm, Lolo Consulting, LLC, was registered in Saudi Arabia as a “one-person foreign entity” that was “providing senior management consulting services.’'

The commercial registration was filed in Arabic in Saudi Arabia’s capital in February 2020, and the registration is scheduled to expire in June 2023.

Stefanowski refused to talk about his ties to Saudi Arabia after the initial reporting by Rennie on his blog.

Asked at the time if he had ever worked in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and 2021, Stefanowski responded, “I’m not going to comment on a late-night blog from a blogger that is factually incorrect and unsubstantiated. Next question.’’

Asked again by The Courant, Stefanowski said, “I’m not going to comment on it. If I commented on every blog out there, we would be here for five hours.’’

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com