Princess Haifa bint Faisal, also known as Haifa al Faisal, (born 1950) is the wife of Prince Bandar bin Sultan

Bandar bin Sultan

Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is a prince of the Saudi royal family and was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by King Abdullah on 16 October 2005...

 and daughter of the late King Faisal

Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamic Nationalism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian...

 and Queen Iffat. She is the sister of Saud Al-Faisal and Turki Al-Faisal. After the September 11 attacks, she came under public scrutiny for allegedly providing financial assistance to Omar al-Bayoumi

Omar al-Bayoumi

Omar al-Bayoumi is a Saudi national who befriended two of the 9/11 hijackers in the United States.Some people suspect he was a Saudi agent and an accessory to the attacks...

's wife.

Details of the funding charges

In April 1998, Osama Basnan, a Saudi national living in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, wrote to Princess Haifa requesting money for his wife's needed thyroid

Thyroid

The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid , in vertebrate anatomy, is one of the largest endocrine glands. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage...

 surgery. Haifa sent $15,000 to him. However his wife, Majeda Dweikat, was not treated for two years.

Between November 1999 and March 2000, she allegedly began sending small monthly installments through Riggs Bank

Riggs Bank

Riggs Bank was a Washington, D.C.-based commercial bank with branches located in the surrounding metropolitan area and offices around the world. For most of its history, it was the largest bank in the nation's capital. Riggs had been controlled by the Albritton family since the 1980s, but they lost...

. The payments continued through May 2002 and eventually totaled between $51,000 and $73,000 as zakat

Zakat

Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...

.