Antoun Sehnaoui, the Lebanese banker and CEO of Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) in Lebanon and Jordan, is waging a systematic campaign against the media platform Daraj on multiple fronts, particularly legal and media-related. This campaign began with legal complaints that led to Daraj’s team being summoned to the Cybercrimes Bureau, a unit that lacks jurisdiction over press matters. Sehnaoui attempted to pressure Daraj into lowering its journalistic standards and limiting its investigative reach.
On the media front, Sehnaoui has extensive connections with Lebanese media outlets, most notably MTV Lebanon, which has been leading the campaign against Daraj. It is worth noting that Michel El Murr, the chairman of MTV, previously exploited his media platform to launch a smear campaign against Minister Tarek Mitri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam because they refused to appoint him to a ministerial position.
This is the same MTV that consistently defended former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, who is now in prison. Who can forget when MTV journalist George Ghanem declared on his brother Marcel Ghanem’s show Sar El Wa2et: “Riad Salameh should be prosecuted for the 30—or 28—years during which he made Lebanese people live beyond their means and believe a lie.”
During an episode of Tafaseel hosted by journalist Firas Hatoum, journalist Walid Abboud, a former MTV host, noted that Marcel Ghanem joined MTV as part of a broader deal that included his financier, banker Antoun Sehnaoui.
The Daraj Investigation That Infuriated Sehnaoui
Sehnaoui’s relentless battles against Daraj only reinforce the platform’s success in investigative journalism. This strengthens Daraj’s resolve to continue its work in pursuit of justice for depositors who lost their savings due to the corruption of Lebanon’s banking sector. This corruption is spearheaded by the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), led by its president, Salim Sfeir, chairman of Bank of Beirut, along with his fellow bankers—the so-called bankerjiyya, as economic journalist Mounir Younes describes them.
What particularly provoked Sehnaoui was a 2023 investigative report by Daraj, which revealed how he managed to break a deposit worth 254 billion Lebanese pounds ($169 million at the time) before its actual maturity date in 2047. This transaction was approved by then-Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh under the pretext that Société Générale needed liquidity in Lebanese pounds. According to a document obtained by Daraj, this maneuver took place just weeks before Lebanon’s financial collapse, specifically on September 16, 2019.
The Daraj report detailed: “The Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh approved the release of the deposit under the justification that Société Générale required these funds to secure liquidity in Lebanese pounds. The document stated: ‘The reason behind these operations is our liquidity shortage in Lebanese pounds,’ with the condition that 60 billion Lebanese pounds be placed at the Central Bank’s disposal with an interest rate exceeding 9 percent.”
Sehnaoui had a strong relationship with former Central Bank Governer Riad Salameh, who facilitated the acquisition of the bankrupt Lebanese Canadian Bank by Société Générale in 2011. Additionally, between September 2019 and January 2020, just weeks before Lebanon imposed illegal capital controls on depositors, the Central Bank lent SGBL approximately $1 billion, according to another document obtained by Daraj.
In adherence to professional ethics, Daraj sent inquiries to both SGBL and the Central Bank of Lebanon for their right of reply. However, neither institution responded to Daraj’s questions regarding the rationale behind this loan or the details of securing such a large sum in U.S. dollars.
Sehnaoui’s campaign against Daraj did not begin recently. Around two years ago, a coordinated attack was launched across various platforms he funds, including ICI Beyrouth, Hona Lebanon, This is Beirut, and others. These outlets accused Daraj and similar media platforms of being part of an alleged conspiracy orchestrated by American billionaire George Soros. This accusation is both absurd and overused, but we will address it in separate articles.
Sehnaoui also owns Executive magazine and maintains strong relationships with several platforms, including France 24 and MTV Lebanon.
This time, Sehnaoui escalated his attack by leveraging a more powerful media ally, MTV, to go after Daraj, after smaller platforms he funded failed to achieve their goal. It is unfortunate to see a media outlet allow itself to be used as a tool by a banker to target another media platform.
Who is Antoun Sehnaoui?
Antoun Sehnaoui is a Lebanese banker and film producer, born in 1972 in Beirut, Lebanon. He is the son of Nabil Sehnaoui, a prominent Lebanese businessman, and May Chehab Sehnaoui, a descendant of Emir Bashir Shihab II, who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century. He was named after his great-uncle, Antoun Sehnaoui, one of the founders of the bank that later became Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL). His great-uncle also served as a minister and former member of parliament.
Under Sehnaoui’s leadership, SGBL has become one of Lebanon’s top three banking groups, particularly after acquiring the healthy assets of the bankrupt Lebanese Canadian Bank in 2011 and purchasing Banque Richelieu and Banque Richelieu Monaco in France in 2018.
Sehnaoui has also been linked by Lebanese media reports to the extremist group “Soldiers of God”, which gained notoriety for attacking Om Bar café in Mar Mikhael under the pretext of opposing homosexuality, disregarding fundamental human rights and freedoms.
One of the group’s latest controversies involved the murder of Roland El-Murr, the head of a Lebanese Forces party center. He was allegedly lured to the scene of the crime. In an interview with Daraj, lawyer Violette El-Murr, daughter of the slain Roland El-Murr, claimed that Sehnaoui has actively prevented the media from covering her father’s case since the incident occurred on December 4, 2024. Furthermore, even the press conference organized by the Beirut branch of the Lebanese Forces, in collaboration with the Legal Professions Department, which was attended by several MPs, representatives from the Beirut Bar Association, and members of its council, was not covered by the media.
Sehnaoui also has a major stake in Lebanon’s real estate sector, as one of the largest shareholders in Solidere, the real estate development company established in 1994 under the pretext of rebuilding Beirut after the civil war. His goal in increasing his stake in Solidere is to gain a controlling share, which would grant him significant influence over the company’s decisions and policies.
His business partner in acquiring additional shares is Ziad Abu Jamra, the head of Fidus, a Cyprus-based company owned by Sehnaoui. Abu Jamra previously served as Head of Capital Markets and Trading at Fidus – Société Générale Group, according to a Daraj investigation.
Beyond banking, Sehnaoui is known for his passion for cinema and the arts. He is a film and music producer and co-owns a film production company with French actress Julie Gayet, called Rouge International. He also founded Ezekiel Film Production, which has produced over 30 films, including The Insult (Case No. 23), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018.
On the political front, Sehnaoui wields influence in the Lebanese Parliament, particularly through his close ally, MP Jean Talouzian.