Otaiba had reason to keep his dealings with Low under wraps. A few months earlier, he had become the UAE’s ambassador to the United States, fast establishing himself as one of Washington’s most prominent diplomats. His dinner parties, at the ambassador’s palatial residence on the Virginia bank of the Potomac River, catered by celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, attracted White House staffers, members of Congress, and top cable-news hosts.
