Warrant for missing property developer Jean Nassif
Organised Crime Squad detectives have issued an arrest warrant for embattled Sydney property developer Jean Nassif, whose social media posts suggest is living with his family in Lebanon.
NSW
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Organised Crime Squad detectives have issued an arrest warrant for embattled Sydney property developer Jean Nassif, who is believed to be in Lebanon.
Strike Force Calool detectives were granted a warrant on Friday for the arrest of 55-year-old Nassif as part of their investigation into alleged financial crimes.
Detectives confirmed they had information to suggest Mr Nassif was overseas — and has not been in Australia for “months”.
Commander of the Organised Crime Squad, Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, said
police wanted help from “people who are aware of his whereabouts” or if Mr Nassif “wants to come forward and speak to detectives”.
“Our direct message to Mr Nassif is obviously we have the arrest warrant for your arrest, we encourage you to come forward and speak to detectives at the earliest convenience.”
Meanwhile Mr Nassif’s social media profile has numerous posts which suggest he and his family have been living in Lebanon this year.
His Facebook account appears to show the wanted property developer was in Lebanon in May with family members, enjoying canapes at a resort on the country’s coast.
On May 25, Mr Nassif posted a Facebook reel from Dea Del Mare, a beach resort near the Lebanese city of Byblos, about a 45-minute drive from capital Beirut.
“Congratulations on the great upgrade”, Mr Nassif wrote in the reel.
In a response to a Facebook friend’s comment, Mr Nassif said he was at the resort and in Lebanon “only for work”.
The most recent reel, posted on Thursday, show’s Mr Nassif’s son playing soccer but also the Toplace owner enjoying canapes at another, unknown, beachside resort.
Mr Nassif, who police believe has been outside of Australia for months, shared an April poolside shot with three of his children.
A court last year heard that his wife Nissering “Nissy”’ Nassif was in Lebanon and a January reel posted by Mr Nassif shows pictures of him and his wife with their three young children.
In February, Mr Nassif told this publication, in a letter to the parliamentary inquiry looking at misconduct allegations into Toplace and Hills Shire councillors, he was “recuperating” in rural Lebanon.
He said he would rest and recover before “travelling further to manage my overseas business interests”.
On Friday, Supt Faux said police believed it had been “months” since Mr Nassif was in the country.
“If he is offshore and overseas then we will commence the appropriate conversations” with other countries, he said.
Supt Faux said detectives wanted to speak to Mr Nassif over allegations of “large scale fraud and dishonestly obtaining funds by deception”.
Investigations under Strike Force Calool began in April 2021, with detectives charging the developer’s daughter, Ashlyn Nassif, earlier this year.
Ms Nassif, a construction lawyer, was arrested in March following police raids on four properties, including the offices of her law firm EA Legal, and charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and publishing false or misleading material.
The 27-year-old is accused of submitting fake contracts to meet a $10.5m pre-sale condition for the Sky View apartments in Castle Hill in Sydney’s northwest.
Over three months in late 2021, Ms Nassif is accused of submitting fake contracts to Westpac Bank to dishonestly obtain a $150m loan to fund three of the five Skyview towers that consisted of about 960 apartments.
The apartment tower complex was being built by her father’s development company, Toplace.
At the time of the alleged offending, Ms Nassif was a legal practitioner in the NSW Supreme Court and a partner at EA Legal. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the firm.
Ms Nassif was granted bail in May after her family put up a $2.6m surety.
She is not allowed to contact 24 people linked to the alleged fraud, must live at her mother’s Chiswick home and abide by a curfew from 9pm to 6am.
Her property developer father was among the people she cannot contact.
In 2019, Mr Nassif went viral on social media for gifting his 34-year-old wife Nissering “Nissy”’ Nassif a $480,000 Lamborghini.
Ms Nassif is yet to enter pleas. The matter will return to court this month.
Insolvency firm KordaMentha has been appointed as the receiver and manager of the firms run by Mr Nassif.
The companies are responsible for the giant Skyview apartment complex in Sydney’s north west.
Tenants were initially barred from moving into the 900-unit block built by Mr Nassif in Castle Hill after signs of cracking were found in the complex’s basement.
It’s the latest twist in the Nassif family’s professional and business lives.
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