Kamel Nacif Borge

Who is Kamel Nacif Borge?

Kamel Nacif Borge is a Puebla based Mexican businessman, born at Mexico City, of Lebanese descent, known in Mexico as "El Rey de la Mezclilla". He is one of the richest men in Mexico and one of the biggest and most famous gamblers in the world. He is said to have built the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, with all the money he lost at the casino's baccarat tables.

It is said that Kamel Nacif forged his own future by working really hard since the time he was 15-years-old. He started out as a small merchant by importing fabrics from overseas until he eventually built a textile empire that employed over 20,000 people. In 1999, he partnered with an apparel company known as the Tarrant Apparel Group, who manufactured denim jeans for brands such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Chaps, Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch, and American Eagle.

In 2002 Vicente Fox and Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía celebrate with him a new export textile factory in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas and also give him a soft loan for about 2 million dollars. He has also been related with the Puebla Governor Mario Marin in the illegal acquisition of real estate.

During 2004 he acquired for 44 million dollars the whole property of the company "Tarrant Appareal Group", an organization with subsidiaries in Chile, China, Thailand, Korea and in the United States. The "Sun Herald" refers an investigation of the Game Commission of Nevada about the involvement of Nacif Borge in drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. The relationship between the Mexican government and the entrepreneur was confirmed when he was the beneficiary of a soft loan of 5 million dollars during the Fobaproa program.