Instagram influencer Faoud ‘Abrakebabra’ Najem made bankrupt over failure to pay $300k defamation lawsuit

Food blogger Faoud ‘Abrakebabra’ Najem landed in hot water this week after a court heard he failed to pay a fellow influencer $300,000 after losing a defamation case last year.

Prominent food blogger Issac 'Sir Eats-a-lot' Martin, right, successfully applied to the Federal Court to have rival influencer Faoud 'Abrakebabra' Najem, left, declared bankrupt after Najem failed to pay $300,000 following his loss of a defamation case brought by Martin last year. Pictures: Supplied.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, then prominent food blogger Issac ‘Sir Eats-a-lot’ Martin is cooking in subzero temperatures with his latest move in an ongoing legal stoush involving rival influencer Faoud ‘Abrakebabra’ Najem.

Martin, a former pastry chef turned social media star who promotes and reviews venues to his more than 210,000 Instagram followers, successfully sued Najem for defamation last October after the Parramatta burger bar owner falsely labelled Martin a “paedophile” and a “racist” in a series vile, expletive-laden videos posted on his Instagram account.

In one piece of footage, Najem labelled Martin the “most hated person” in the food review industry, while in another, he posted a photoshopped picture of Martin at Bondi Beach with the word “RACIST” superimposed over him.

NSW District Court judge Judith Gibson found Najem had engaged in a campaign to “attack and discredit the reputation of the plaintiff” and awarded Martin $300,000 in damages.

She also made an order permanently restraining Najem from publishing any further defamatory material.

Issac 'Sir Eats-a-lot' Martin successfully sued Najem for defamation last October and was awarded $300,000 damages, but hadn’t been paid a cent. Picture: Instagram

However, Najem failed to hand over a single dollar of the outstanding debt despite the court ruling, prompting Martin to launch fresh proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court in January seeking to have Najem declared bankrupt.

The Daily Telegraph can now reveal the application was granted by a court registrar on Thursday following a brief hearing, which it is understood Najem did not attend.

Najem (pictured) failed to show up to either set of court proceedings and was this week made bankrupt by the Federal Court.

It is not the first time Najem has failed to engage in important court proceedings — he did not file any evidence ahead of his defamation trial last year and did not show up on the day of the hearing after his lawyers withdrew from the case at the 11th hour.

Under the Federal court orders, Najem’s estate will be charged $5322 in professional costs, while the bankruptcy will be deemed to have taken effect from January 3.

Meanwhile, a petition filed on Martin’s behalf and obtained by the Telegraph named him as the sole creditor and confirmed the money was still outstanding as of January 25.

“The respondent debtor [Najem] owed the applicant creditor [Martin] the amount of $306,656 pursuant to a judgment entered in [the] District Court of New South Wales … on 17 October 2022,” the petition said.

The document also revealed Martin’s legal team had previously attempted to obtain the funds in December by serving Najem with a formal demand for payment via a bankruptcy notice, however he failed to respond within the 21-day time period.