(CNN)The children of Jamal Khashoggi have received millions of dollars’ worth of property, one-off payments and large monthly allowances as compensation for the killing of the Saudi journalist, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday.
The family could also receive tens of millions of dollars in “blood money” payments following the trial of Khashoggi’s alleged killers in Riyadh. All told, the family could stand to collect more than $70 million in cash and assets, the source estimated.
The Saudi government would contend that these payments are intended to make amends, but the expectation is that in exchange for the money, they won’t publicly criticize the royal family over Khashoggi’s death, the source said.
Khashoggi’s four children have each been gifted homes worth as much as 15 million Saudi riyals (around $4 million), the source said. Salah, who as the eldest son handles the family’s relations with the government, has been given a large home in Jeddah, where he works as a banker. His brother, Abdullah, and two sisters have been given houses together in a different compound.
Salah Khashoggi, son of Jamal, met the Saudi Crown Prince in a staged encounter in October.
In addition to the property, Khashoggi’s four children each received a one-time payment of 1 million riyals ($267,000) and will each receive a monthly stipend of $10,000 to $15,000, which could continue indefinitely, according to the source.
The houses, one-off payments and monthly allowances were approved by Saudi King Salman, the source said.
The Washington Post, where Khashoggi worked as a columnist before he was killed, first reported the payments to his children.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 operatives they say were involved in Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
It is likely to increase pressure on the Trump administration, which has been determined to separate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the murder, and sought to frame the issue as a binary choice between supporting or cutting off a key partner in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump has been at odds with the CIA, which, sources say, has concluded bin Salman personally ordered the killing.
The revelations also threaten to undermine a key plank of an initial Saudi explanation for Khashoggi’s death, that it was a rogue operation that went horribly wrong.
The original transcript of the audio was prepared by Turkish intelligence services. Turkish officials have never said how they obtained the audio. The transcript would have been translated before it was shared with other intelligence services; CNN’s source read a translated version and has been briefed on the investigation.
The office of one US senator, who has received a briefing on the investigation by CIA Director Gina Haspel, told CNN that the source’s recollections of the transcript are “consistent” with that briefing.
CNN asked Saudi officials to comment on the contents of the transcript as described by the source, and to provide comment from those named in it. A Saudi official said: “The relevant Saudi security officials have reviewed the transcript and tape materials through Turkish security channels and nowhere in them is there any reference or indication of a call being made.”
“If there is additional information Turkish authorities have that we are unaware of, we would welcome it being officially handed over to us for review, which we have requested numerous times and are still requesting. And, up until now; we have not received anything.” The official did not address the transcript’s characterization of the scene inside the Saudi consulate, nor Khashoggi’s last words.