At 3 a.m., the telephone buzzes Adnan Khashoggi awake in his luxurious bedroom, 47 floors above Manhattan. The Saudi Arabian financier plugs the phone into a transmitter locked around his ankle, sends a signal and goes back to sleep. Most people who deal in billions of dollars and hobnob with presidents and kings might think it demeaning to be monitored so. But Khashoggi seems amused by this nightly ritual that lets authorities check his whereabouts outside U.S. District Court, where he is on trial with former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos. ``I call it the government's wake-up service. It wakes me up in time for morning prayers,'' joked Khashoggi, a Moslem. Raising a pants leg to reveal the black, wristwatch-like gadget, he added: ``When this (trial) is over, I might go into selling these things. This one, I am going to auction off _ for charity.'' It wouldn't be the first time ``A.K.,'' as his intimates call him, found a business opportunity in an unexpected place. He has done that for years on his way to becoming one of the world's most famous citizens and, for a time, perhaps its richest. Despite a series of business setbacks in recent years, Khashoggi is so wealthy that numbers are almost irrelevant. ``Adnan would consider himself penniless if he was down to his last hundred million,'' says James Linn, his lawyer. Khashoggi, 54, is vague about his current worth but doubts that he ever was the world's richest man. He says that title belongs to his friend the Sultan of Brunei. His wealth may be best judged by his bail. He put up the required $10 million, but authorities said it was small change to Khashoggi, and feared he would forfeit it for freedom. He was released from jail only after King Fahd of Saudi Arabia sent a letter guaranteeing that he would not attempt to flee, and after he agreed to wear the monitoring device. In an interview at his lavish apartment, with its artworks by Dufy and Miro and its sweeping views of the city, Khashoggi described an investment portfolio that once ranged over 35 countries. ``In my heyday I used to earn $80 million to $100 million a year and probably spent, on this style of life, $40 million,'' he said. ``But when they say I am the world's richest man, how do they come to this conclusion? I don't have $10 billion in the bank.'' When a $600 million Salt Lake City project went bust in 1987, he lost $300 million. ``That was the beginning of the disaster stories. Because it was me, everybody thought I went bankrupt, but it was not true,'' he said. Khashoggi reportedly was a middleman and financier of the Iran-Contra affair, in which profits from secret U.S. arms sales to Iran were channeled to rebel groups fighting the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. In his opening statement at the trial, Linn tried to dispel the idea that there was something wrong with being an arms trader, saying all Khashoggi's arms dealings had U.S. and Saudi government approval. Khashoggi describes himself as an ``international salesman,'' and ``merchant banker.'' He insists there is nothing sinister or mysterious about what he does. ``I am a hard-working man, and I have to pay my bills,'' he said. ``I am just like you _ with a few extra zeros.'' Despite his wealth, Khashoggi takes the subway to and from court to avoid traffic. Last week, when the train stalled, he walked 29 blocks home; few passersby took notice of the short, portly man talking into a hand-held telephone as he strode up Park Avenue. In court, he dozes off occasionally as testimony focuses mainly on Mrs. Marcos' alleged financial misdeeds. The government claims she and her late husband, Ferdinand, looted their country's treasury of about $220 million, depositing some in secret Swiss bank accounts and spending more on lavish living and real estate purchases. Khashoggi is charged with mail fraud and obstruction of justice. It is alleged that he forged documents to help conceal the Marcoses ownership of four New York office buildings and an art collection bought with stolen funds. He concedes that he was ``foolish'' to get involved with the Marcoses, but contends he committed no crime because the document backdating occurred in 1985, the year before Marcos was ousted from power and a U.S. court froze all transactions involving the buildings. ``When you ask me why this trial is unfair, it is because they (the prosecutors) know all this,'' he said. ``Without me, they don't have a case. They want to get the Marcoses, by hook or by crook.'' Khashoggi said he believes Judge John F. Keenan eventually will dismiss the charges against him, but if not, he'll be acquitted by the jury. ``These people are not going to be unfair,'' he said. And he contended the trial is doing great damage to America's image in the Middle East. ``This case has become a symbol of fear,'' he said. ``I am trying to say, `Hey, guys, this is not America.' We will have our day in court and they will see that it is not America, but a corner street called New York.''
