Crown inquiry behind James Packer’s reunion with Matthew Csidei
It is three years since Packer jettisoned his mate Matthew “Ched” Csidei from his close circle after their 30-year friendship fell apart over Csidei’s management of the Packer’s private multimillion-dollar projects. But a reconciliation is currently in the works, Annette Sharp writes.
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As the impending NSW government inquiry into James Packer’s Crown casino licence batters his business circle, the embattled billionaire is said to have been bolstered by the reboot of an intimate friendship with one ousted former bestie.
It is three years since Packer jettisoned his mate Matthew Csidei from his inner sanctum after their 30-year friendship fell apart over Csidei’s management of the casino boss’s private multimillion-dollar projects, among them his immense Vaucluse marital compound (dubbed Westfield Vaucluse by neighbours) and new 108m-long superyacht, IJE, vanity projects that both ran over time and hundreds of millions over budget.
According to close sources, a reconciliation is currently under way at the suggestion of Packer’s indispensable poker playing pal Ben Tilley — aka the billionaire babysitter — who has taken on the role of peacemaker.
“Pack” and “Ched” first bonded at high school at Bellevue Hill’s privileged boys school Cranbrook in the 1980s when the pair were spotty teens struggling to emerge from the shadows of alpha male fathers who became Australian legends.
Packer’s father Kerry was a hard-nosed media proprietor while Csidei’s father Bela was a gangster with links to Frank Sinatra and the mafia.
The men shared a love of beautiful women, luxury cars, international travel, fine living, comforts and rugs although only Packer would inherit a billion dollar fortune upon the death of his father in 2005.
Csidei’s wealth and success would be largely, despite his days as a UBS banker, tied to Packer’s.
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In James Packer’s employ, the affable Ched would be dubbed, perhaps unkindly, “admiral” of Packer’s fleet of pleasure craft — a role that brought with it an affluent, gilded lifestyle yet none of the expense, something friends of the Packer family have enjoyed for three generations.
It must then have been a huge shock to be expelled from Packer’s inner circle in 2017, but Ched, who quit Sydney for London in 2014 to oversee the construction of IJE, took it on the chin and maintained his silence about the blow-up — just one in a series for Packer, who has shed friends ruthlessly in the past eight years.
Csidei, the godson of fashion legend Maggie Tabberer, resettled in Monaco where he has largely focused on raising his family with wife Lauren while dabbling in Double Bay bar Pelicano.
He had an interest in that business along with friends Tim Holmes a Court, musician and artist Daimon Downey (formerly of Sneaky Sound System) and hotelier Andrew Belcher, until its closure at Christmas.
That was until an olive branch was extended by Tilley and Packer over the summer.
Close sources say that with Packer under mounting stress as he prepares to fly home to Australia to face the NSW Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry into his business, which resumes tomorrow in the NSW Supreme Court and will look at claims Crown went into business with junket tour operators attached to Chinese organised crime, Tilley saw the need to extend Packer’s tight circle of five to six to greater support Packer, who has a history of anxiety, depression and addiction.
For the past year, the members of that circle of trust have been Tilley, Crown director Guy Jalland, who also happens to be chief executive of Packer’s private company CPH, Bondi health coach Damien “Chappy” Chapman, girlfriend Kylie Lim and ex-wife Jodhi Meares.
With Tilley playing a greater role managing Packer’s life, he may have seen the need for an emotional back-up man.
Still others suggest the move was purely professional with the inquiry calling Packer’s most loyal lieutenants as witnesses, the casino magnate may have seen the need to bring Ched back into the fold.
Whatever the motivation, his return has been welcomed by many coinciding as it does with the departure of former Crown chairman John Alexander and retreat of Packer’s Melco investment partner Lawrence Ho, men inclined to put business before friendship — unlike the softer Ched.