Khalifa Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani

In 2011, Al Thani began studying in Los Angeles, California at Los Angeles Mission College, a community college. According to the Los Angeles Times, the prince's handlers sought to get him accepted into UCLA by suggesting that the school would receive a substantial donation. They next sought to get him accepted into the University of Southern California (USC). A couple months after a meeting between Al Thani's mother, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Al Thani was studying at USC as a transfer student.[1]

Al Thani received a bachelor's and master's degree from USC. In July 2020, the Los Angeles Times published an investigative report showing that he was allowed to skip classes as an undergraduate student for dubious "security reasons", and that he obtained his master's during a period in which he never set foot on campus. During his master's, Al Thani got a "special dispensation" to study remotely, which USC has never before or after offered to any other student. At the same time that he was enrolled in the master's, social media posts showed him attending a handful of military exercises as well as vacationing in France, the UK, and Monaco, and Algeria, where he went hunting with falcons.[1]

An adjunct professor said that Al Thani's handlers delivered a final paper in a bag that also contained a Rolex watch, which the adjunct returned.[1]

While undertaking his education in the United States, Al Thani lived in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. His butlers lived in $600-a-night rooms in the hotel.[1]

According to the Los Angeles Times, the charges filed in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal "did not involve Al Thani or his family, but the high-profile prosecution, with its allegations of wealthy parents scheming to get underqualified offspring into USC and other universities prompted some who knew the prince to reconsider the circumstances of his education. Shortly thereafter, The Times received a tip to look into his college degree."[1]

Al Thani has been an officer in the Qatari internal security service.[1]

An active warrant for Al Thani's arrest stands in the state of California, as Al Thani never showed up to his arraignment. The infraction stems from a speeding arrest in 2014 in which the Al Thani, who was returning from the Wynn resort and casino in Las Vegas with his entourage, was driving 130 mph. California Highway Patrol officers detained Al Thani and cited him for speeding. In a criminal complaint, L.A. prosecutors alleged he was driving recklessly and flaunting a dangerous speed.[1]