Property developer John Taouk guilty of extorting money from uncle

A PROMINENT Brisbane property developer who went outside the law in a desperate bid to settle a money dispute with an uncle was jailed today for extortion.

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A PROMINENT Brisbane property developer who went outside the law in a desperate bid to settle a money dispute with an uncle was jailed today for extortion.

John Taouk, who had a cash flow problem at the time, got another relative to come from Sydney to threaten his uncle over money he claimed he was owed from a business dealing.

The dispute, in which Taouk and his uncle both claimed to be in the right, was the subject of litigation, but Taouk was under financial stress so he rang another relative, Leon Jean Tissrand, to come to Brisbane.

The District Court in Brisbane heard three years later Taouk was now a major player in Brisbane property development with five projects currently under way.

Taouk, 36, who is the director of two Brisbane building and property development companies, and Tissrand, 38, a Sydney concrete business owner, pleaded guilty to extortion in December 2008.

Judge David Reid sentenced both men to three years' jail. He ordered Taouk's sentence be suspended after a year and Tissrand be placed on court ordered parole after a year.

He said if it hadn't been for the significant three-year delay in the case coming to a sentence hearing he would have jailed both for four years.

Judge Reid said he accepted in the years since the offence both men had built up their business interests and neither had reoffended.

He also accepted there was no violence used and no damage to property.

However, Judge Reid said he believed it was a very serious offence which would have been very frightening for the victim and would have a long term impact on the victim and the victim's family.

Earlier, prosecutor Belinda Merrin said Taouk was in a civil dispute with his uncle about some industrial units at Darra in Brisbane's southwest.

Taouk rang Tissrand in Sydney and asked him to come to Brisbane to help resolve the dispute.

Ms Merrin said Tissrand recruited a third man who travelled with him to Brisbane and they rang Taouk's uncle saying they wanted to inspect the units with the intention of buying one.

Once there, the the pair held the uncle for two hours and made threats against him and his family.

Ms Merrin said the uncle was asked to sign over a unit and a sum of money. It wasn't clear how much money but it was around $58,000.

She said eventually the uncle agreed but when he was set free he went to his solicitor who rang police.

Barrister Damian Walsh, for Taouk, said his client ran companies which had 10 full time employees and also effectively employed 400 others as contractors.

He said Taouk's behaviour could be explained because at the time he was feeling financial stress and needed the money to pay his creditors.

Mr Walsh said Taouk felt he had a legitimate claim to the unit and money and felt his uncle was cheating him.

In the three years since the offence Taouk had built up his companies and had not committed any more offences.

Tony Glynn, SC, for Tissrand, said his client had overcome a difficult childhood to build up his own concrete company in Sydney and had been hit hard financially because of the uncertain future since being charged.

He said Tissrand had come to Brisbane at the request of a relative who he was told had been cheated by an older relative.

"There was no violence, no damage to property, no money obtained and the offence was over a relatively short period," Mr Glynn said.