OA is B
A) awkwardly ends with a prepositional phrase and is wordy with the introduction of relative clause "who"
B) "as well as" can be used as a conjunction or a preposition. When used as a preposition, it is indeed a parenthetical element and the following verb should be singular
eg Mike, as well as Ron,
is the best person for the challenge.
The above gives an example of the use of "as well as" as a preposition. In the original question, "as well as" is used as a conjunction and can be used in the same terms as "and"
C) again, wordy with the introduction of restrictive clause "that". "along with" is also wrong usage
D) "despite the fact that" is redundant and hence wordy. You can see that redundancy here:
https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ ... redundancy
"despite being" in B is more concise.
E) again, "who" clause is wordy
Whether we put "person closest to me" or "closest person to me" is about semantics. While in the former, the emphasis is on the closeness of the relationship, the latter is more about "the closest person" himself.
As for the use of "being", most people would agree that it is most commonly wrong in GMAT world but in this case it is not. This is because of (1) the redundancy in D which I previously explained and (2) "despite" is usually followed by a gerund phrase (-ing).
eg Despite being so tall, Sue wears small size shoes
You can see an example here where "being" is properly used in "despite being offered $1,000 to do so"
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... +lindbergh
For more information on the use of being, you can read Erin's post here:
https://www.sentencecorrection.com/forum ... wtopic=323