Syria seizes assets of Assad cousin and business magnate Rami Makhlouf

BEIRUT – Syria has frozen the assets of President Bashar Assad’s cousin Rami Mahklouf, a powerful businessman who recently complained of shakedowns by people close to the president. In documents issued Tuesday by the Legal Affairs directorate of Syria’s finance ministry, the government placed a “provisional hold” on all assets belonging to Makhlouf, whose estimated fortune is worth billions of …