Former brothel madam to sell waterfront home as Fadi Ibrahim, ATO seek debts

A court has heard a prominent former brothel madam owes tens of millions of dollars to the ATO and millions more to Fadi Ibrahim — but now she can sell her house to a friend whose husband is accused of headline-grabbing crimes.

A former brothel madam will sell her waterfront home to the wife of a truckie accused of trying to import cocaine, and further accused of sneaking Mostafa Baluch out of Sydney, while Fadi Ibrahim and tax collectors lay claim for millions of dollars from the madam’s depleted fortune.

The NSW Supreme Court has heard Jamelie Lahood, former proprietor of Stilettos Camperdown, owes the ATO millions of dollars with the tax commissioner taking stakes, known as “caveats”, in her properties as she makes repayments.

Ms Lahood’s debts made headlines in 2019 when Mr Ibrahim sued her for $4.4m to recover a $2.5m loan plus an eye-watering amount of interest.

But Mr Ibrahim’s lawsuits also revealed he had also taken caveats in some of Ms Lahood’s properties, including a multi-million dollar waterfront home at Yowie Bay in The Shire.

The courts have heard one of Ms Lahood’s friends, Mary Kitanovski, has been trying to buy the Yowie Bay home from the former madam for years but the caveats have complicated the process - until this week.

Former madam Jamelie Lahood owes millions, a court heard, but has been allowed to sell one of her homes to a friend.

A lawsuit, launched by Ms Kitanovski, revealed she and her husband have lived at the Yowie Bay home since 2012 and paid rent to Ms Lahood.

The lawsuit does not mention that Ms Kitanovski’s husband, Jovanco Kitanovski, is currently behind bars held on remand as he awaits trial on a charge of conspiring to import a $45m shipment of cocaine.

He is among a trio of alleged smugglers facing life in prison if found guilty while the cocaine police allege they tried to import is now sitting on the ocean floor.

Jovanco, last year, was also charged with perverting the course of justice for being behind the wheel of a truck which was allegedly concealing accused drug lord Mostafa Baluch in its cargo.

There is no suggestion Ms Kitanovski, Mr Ibrahim or Ms Lahood had any connection or knowledge of the crimes alleged against Jovanco Kitanovski.

The Supreme Court lawsuit, launched by Ms Kitanovski, was designed to push through the sale of the Yowie Bay home despite the caveats from Mr Ibrahim and the ATO.

Fadi Ibrahim leaves court during the hearing. Picture: John Grainger

Mostafa Baluch. Picture: Richard Dobson

One of the issues was that Ms Lahood had agreed to sell the property to Ms Kitanovski for $2.8m while property valuers agreed it was actually worth closer to $3.5m.

Justice Rowan Darke, in his judgment released on Wednesday, said Ms Lahood now appeared to have debts to the ATO approaching $25m.

The judge removed the caveats from the Yowie Bay home so Ms Kitanovski can purchase the property.

But, the judge said, Ms Kitanovski would have to pay an extra $700,000 on top to make up for the market value of the house.

That $700,000, plus the money from the sale of the Yowie Bay home, will be held by the court until Mr Ibrahim and the Commissioner of Taxation sort out their claims on the money.