The Snitch: Fadi Ibrahim sues unlucky dentist William ‘Bill’ Zafiropoulos

Why is Fadi Ibrahim suing a cosmetic dentist and which two respected legal eagles went toe to toe at the Downing Centre? Don’t miss The Snitch.

It’s been one kick in the teeth after another for leading cosmetic dentist William “Bill” Zafiropoulos.

Earlier this year, masked men fractured his skull in a hammer attack inside his Miranda dental surgery.

In 2021, the NSW Supreme Court ordered him to repay the abnormally large $7.89 million he received as a “spotter’s fee” from developer Fred Deiri.

Now Fadi Ibrahim is suing the dentist in the NSW Supreme Court.

The case is next listed on October 30 and it is at a too early stage for the court to release details.

Fadi Ibrahim is suing dentist William “Bill” Zafiropoulos. Picture: John Grainger

We asked Fadi what the case was about via text but he did not respond.

Mr Zafiropoulos could not be reached when we called his surgery on Saturday because the number is “out of service”.

Ibrahim and Zafiropoulos have been linked by previous court cases and news reports.

One report said that Ibrahim was a client of Zafiropoulos.

In the 2021 case over the spotter’s fee paid to Zafiropoulos, the court heard there was a link to Ibrahim there as well.

Bill Zafiropoulos has had a rough trot of late.

The court was told that in March 2018 Mr Deiri agreed to pay “site identification” fees of $7.89 million to Mr Zafiropoulos. But none of the parties could produce paperwork justifying the payments when called to do so by the court.

The court was also told that a large portion of Mr Zafiropoulos’ money was transferred to Ibrahim’s business partner and gym buddy Ben Scott.

Justice Julie Ward ordered Mr Zafiropoulos to repay his spotter’s fee after legal action was launched by a shareholder in Mr Deiri’s development company, who claimed the transactions were unusual.

Justice Ward found the massive amount of money paid to Mr Zafiropoulos was completely unrealistic for simply finding a suitable site to build a block of apartments.

Fadi did not give evidence in the case.

DR SNITCH CALMS THE BLOW-UP

Lawyers jostling for position at the bar table to have their matter heard in court can be a dangerous game.

We found that out inside courtroom 4.3 at the Downing Centre Local Court this week when two of the state’s most respected legal eagles, solicitor Darren Emery and barrister Greg Stanton, got into a heated confrontation.

So what happened?

As always, Snitch is happy play the role of mediator.

As such, we helped out by contacting both parties with the intention of publishing each of their versions.

Lawyer Greg Stanton.

Turns out the courtroom was stacked and there was a lack of order in how lawyers were lining up, or not lining up, to have their matter heard by Magistrate Daniel Covington.

Mr Emery said he had been blocked by another barrister and eventually stepped around her when he felt someone poking him.

“I turned around and it was (Mr Stanton),” Mr Emery said. “I should have walked out and reported it to the sheriffs. I’m going to stay as far away from him as I can next time.”

We contacted Mr Stanton via text message for his version and he replied: “Not interested. You can source your scandal mongering elsewhere”.

We were only trying to help.

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