‘He hasn’t called the kids since Christmas’: Jean Nassif’s ex-wife hits back at his claims

Runaway property developer Jean Nassif’s estranged wife says he has not had contact with his three children since Christmas, and has not paid ‘a cent’ towards their care for more than a year despite claiming he calls them every day.

Runaway property developer Jean Nassif’s estranged wife says he has not contacted their children since Christmas, and hasn’t paid ‘a cent’ towards their care for more than a year despite claiming he calls them every day.

Nisserine Mattar hit back at the failed businessman’s claims from Lebanon this week that he’s ‘not hiding’, and that he sees his three young children daily through FaceTime.

The administrator for Nassif’s failed property development business Toplace revealed he syphoned money offshore to his brother’s bank account in Lebanon in the months before the business collapsed leaving more than $400 million in debts and thousands of defective apartments.

“I don’t need to come back … I see my kids everyday (through FaceTime)...I’ve done nothing wrong,” Nassif said from his Beirut home on Monday.

Nisserine Mattar, the estranged wife of fugitive Jean Nassif says he hasn’t called the children since Christmas despite claiming this week he FaceTimes them daily. Picture: David Swift,

Jean Nassif, and then-wife Nissy. Picture: Instagram

But Ms Mattar said Nassif makes no effort to contact the kids, has not paid anything towards their care for more than a year and and only spoke to them at Christmas.

“I ask his brother Bakhos for help to pay their (school) fees or my son’s medical expenses...he says ‘Jean says not one dollar’,” she said.

She said the children had all started at new schools this year because she could not afford to keep them at the private schools they were enrolled at once Nassif cut off all money.

“I had to borrow money last year just for my daughter to finish term four because he refused to pay,” she said.

Ms Nattar knew Nassif was sending money to his brother in the lead up to Toplace’s collapse, but she had no idea ‘how much or to what account’ it was being banked in.

Jean Nassif once gifted Nissy a bright yellow lamborghini, with the clip going viral on social media. Picture: Instagram

Jean Nassif was most recently spotted dining in Lebanon

“He would say to me ‘let’s leave this corrupt country, we can live somewhere else.”

“And you know, it was my dream to live in Lebanon, it’s a great lifestyle if you have money, which Jean does, but no way was I prepared to live there with a narcissist,” she said.

Lebanese-born Nassif fled Australia at the end of 2022 and has been hiding in Lebanon. He is wanted by police in Australia for arrest over alleged financial fraud.

Ms Mattar said reports this week that her infamous yellow Lamborghini was missing were incorrect, revealing it was ‘stolen’ from her while she was supermarket shopping with her kids in April last year.

“I was in Coles at Rhodes shopping centre...we go back to where I parked it, and it’s gone,” she said.

“The kids were crying and trying to help me find it. I called security and they checked the cameras (in the carpark) and could see a guy taking it”.

She said police later revealed the car had been repossessed.

Ms Mattar has come to an arrangement with the administrator that she can remain in the Chiswick home and drive Jean’s Range Rover until they are sold off.

“Who knows when that is...He wants to see me and the kids on the road and living in a tent,” she said.

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Email [e-mail]