From a Lamborghini to lead balloon: How developer Jean Nassif’s empire imploded
When he flaunted his rock star lifestyle with a flashy car purchase, the signs were there developer Jean Nassif could be a car crash waiting to happen. His empire in tatters, he’s now a fugitive. Here’s how it all crumbled.
NSW
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The story of colourful property developer Jean Nassif burst onto the public radar with a vulgar display of wealth.
It came in the form of a bright yellow Lamborghini with a price tag of $480,000, which Nassif gifted to his then second wife Nisserine “Nissy” Nassif for Valentine’s Day in 2019.
But what good is splashing your cash around if no one sees it?
The showy gift hit the social pages after Nassif posted it on his Instagram account, in what was a continuation of the flashy property developer parading his rock star life on social media.
The post went viral and Mr Nassif famously captioned the picture: “Congratulations Mrs Nassif … you like?” There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Nisserine “Nissy” Nassif.
SHADES OF SALIM
It should have been picked up as a sign back then.
The only other example of an ostentatious property developer who had come into the public eye via an over the top sports car was Salim Mehajer.
The ex-deputy mayor of Auburn hit the headlines after he crashed a Ferrari and injured two women in 2012.
And we all know how Mehajer’s story panned out: Convicted of electoral fraud, a Lidcombe high-rise development that imploded in liquidation and a long list of other personal and professional disasters, which included his headline grabbing wedding.
FLASHY FUGITIVE
Nassif is treading a dangerous path. He is missing, wanted by the police who would like to talk to him about the alleged $150 million fraud that his daughter, Ashlyn Nassif, is facing charges over.
A number of his residential towers are the subject of legal battles over defects in the building process that are estimated — in the case of the Canterbury high-rise, known as Vicinity — to cost between $50 million to $100 million to rectify, or at a cost of about $250,000 per apartment owner.
Last Thursday, Nassif, 55, was banned from operating as a builder in NSW while an appeal against his red carding from the industry unfolds.
One day later, the construction arm of Nassif’s building empire, Toplace, was placed in the hands of receivers after going into voluntary administration.
A number of the projects are now in limbo with several blocks incomplete. Others have been found to have major defects, like cracks in the foundational slab, which Toplace had been ordered to rectify.
FAMILIES IN LIMBO
The most concerning aspect of the development is the uncertain position it leaves the families and individuals who outlaid their life savings and more to purchase apartments in the towers that Nassif’s company developed.
Owners from a number of the buildings are already engaged in legal action in an attempt to force Nassif’s company to fix the defects in their apartments and buildings that have rendered their properties unsellable.
But now they will be forced to get in line with other creditors and may have to abandon their legal battles, leaving them in an uncertain position as to whether the defects in their buildings will ever be fixed.
There are also those who bought apartments off the plan that have not been built. They will be forced to wait to see if another builder takes on the project.
As the disaster continues to unfold, the investors and families are speaking out about the dire situations they now find themselves in.
On Thursday, Charles Lee, who purchased a unit off the plan in the Castle Hill “Atmosphere” building in 2018 with wife Patricia for their retirement, told NewsLocal he and his wife could not rent to tenants after the building had multiple defects.
“It has real implications for us trying to sell,” Mr Lee told NewsLocal.
“We did inquiries and we’d be looking at more than $200,000 in losses.”
Nassif established Toplace as a company in 1992.
According to the company’s website, it has built “approximately 30,000 residential homes, shopping centres and commercial suites” in Sydney since then.
The company specialised in high density apartment blocks and boasts on its website that it has a knack for “identifying locations where it is anticipated to provide value for owners, investors and the community at large”.
“Giving back to the community is paramount,” the blurb on the website said.
“Toplace puts the community first and has built additional roads, parks and other vital community facilities into its residential apartment developments.”
This has not always been the case for the people who invested in the properties developed by Toplace.
In 2018, owners who spent up to $700,000 to secure a unit Toplace’s residential high-rise on Charles St, Canterbury, known as Vicinity, launched action in the NSW Supreme Court over defects in the building.
The battle has lurched on ever since.
BANS AND MYRIAD DEFECTS
In 2021, emergency supports were installed in the building after a structural engineer warned the building was at risk of collapsing.
In 2022, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found there were more than 40 defects in that and three other Toplace buildings.
On July 10, NSW Fair Trading slapped Nassif and Toplace with an order to remedy slabs and support columns to make them structurally sound.
Fair Trading issued the grim warning that in a worst-case scenario, people living in the building were at risk of being killed by the “threat of collapse” or “destruction of the building”.
It has been a similar story in Toplace’s five-building development at Castle Hill, known as “Skyview”.
Only two of the towers had been completed before disaster struck.
Three of the towers, consisting of 536 units, have been delayed.
There has also been extensive cracking discovered in the basement and two of the companies used to build the project were placed into receivership
In June 2021, residents were blocked from moving into the two towers that had been completed.
This came after the NSW Building Commissioner confirmed “extensive signs of cracking” were discovered in the building‘s basement.
The ban was lifted six weeks later after Toplace agreed to be liable for any structural defects in the Skyview complex for 20 years.
A 660-unit project at Box Hill consisting of residential and retail shops was delayed after investors pulled the pin.
According to media reports, Nassif went public with his claim that he would use his own company’s money to complete the developments. It has not yet occurred.
Another Toplace development, known as Riviera at Parramatta, is the subject of legal action with the owners corporation suing Toplace in the NSW Supreme Court over a long list of defects, including corroding concrete.
It is a similar story for a number of the company’s other developments, including Atmosphere at Castle Hill, Rise in Parramatta, which are both the subject of legal action in the NSW Supreme Court.
WHERE IS HE?
Which leaves the question of: Where is Mr Nassif?
He is understood to have left Australia in December 2022.
In June 2022, NSW Liberal MP Ray Williams used parliamentary privilege to accuse political figures of taking bribes in exchange for pushing through development approvals on several properties in Castle Hill linked to Mr Nassif.
The NSW Government established an inquiry, which was suspended in March after the Independent Commission Against Corruption began investigating.
The inquiry was stymied after many of its targets — including Mr Nassif — failed to turn up to give evidence.
In February, it was reported that Nassif said he could not give evidence because he had flown to rural Lebanon on business.
According to business records, Nassif was born in Lebanon on either February 1 or June 8 in 1968.
His LinkedIn profile said he migrated to Australia in 1988, which he has previously said publicly came after he fled the civil war in Lebanon.
He immediately began working in the construction industry.
‘KING OF CONCRETE’
After setting up Toplace in 1992, his ascent was quick in the construction industry. According to news reports, he became known as “the King of Concrete”.
In 2015, he spent $4.9 million on a waterfront trophy home on Burns Cr, Chiswick, in Sydney’s inner west.
At the same time, Toplace was expanding at a rapid rate.
In August 2015, the company reportedly dropped $65 million on a logistics centre in Granville.
In 2016, it bought an 8ha industrial site at 1 River Road West, Parramatta, less than 12 months after buying the adjoining site for $21.5 million.
In 2015, one media report described him as a “low profile” builder.
By 2019, Nassif set out to change that and refashioned himself as a quasi Instagram personality, posting pictures of his opulent lifestyle.
That year, he splashed out $75,000 on a party to celebrate his 50th birthday party in high-end fashion at Sydney nightclub Marquee.
The celebrations for his wife’s birthday at The Star in September 2019 were not as successful. Nassif was caught carrying cocaine by a sniffer dog. He pleaded guilty to drug possession in the Downing Centre Local Court but no conviction was recorded.
Inspired by a friend suffering from breast cancer, Ms Nassif founded the charity Wiping Tears, which aimed to help disadvantaged families, in 2015.
The charity allowed the couple to rub shoulders with Sydney’s elite via black tie fund raising events the organisation hosted.
In 2019, the charity held The Sunlight Ball that was hosted by Home And Away actress Erika Heynatz while the audience enjoyed performances by Timomatic and others.
Reports say the couple are now estranged. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Nisserine “Nissy” Nassif.
In July 2022, charges were withdrawn against Nassif for assaulting his wife when Nissy failed to turn up to Burwood Local Court to give evidence because she was in Lebanon, the court was told.
Mr Nassif was arrested at the Chiswick property on May 3 that year, and charged with two counts of common assault and attempted intimidation.
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