The past 12 months weren’t great for emerging markets—but it’s been far worse for Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group and its founder Arif Naqvi. Bad fortune of being in the wrong place with the wrong people at the wrong time, including a scandal at a key lender, is what did them in.

Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO and cofounder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They were one of the foreign investors in Abraaj’s Global Healthcare Fund, which had holdings in African countries and throughout India. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

K-Electric was one of Abraaj’s troubled holdings. Photographer: Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg© 2014 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP

Dubai, Abraaj’s home city. (Getty Images. Royalty free.)GETTY

Tom Barrack, CEO of L.A. private equity firm Colony Capital, acquired some of Abraaj's private equity funds as the firm’s liquidity crisis unfolded. (Photo credit ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)GETTY

PricewaterhouseCoopers offices in New York. The firm is the joint provisional liquidator for Abraaj Holdings. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)