Celebrity accountant steps in as disgraced ex-Nomad boss jets to Indian ashram

Celebrity accountant Anthony Bell has been enlisted to help steer the rebranding of hospitality company Nomad Group as former co-director Alan Yazbek heads to an ashram in India after pleading guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol.

Yazbek’s wife, Rebecca, announced on Friday the company, of which she will be sole director, would be renamed Edition Hospitality as part of a restructure that will remove her husband from any involvement in management or day-to-day operations. He will remain a shareholder.

Alan Yazbek at court in October.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Bell, one of Sydney’s highest-profile accountants, whose clients have included Michael Clarke and Larry Emdur, has been appointed the company’s business adviser.

“Nomad Group is already a successful company,” Rebecca Yazbek said in a statement. “I am confident this new structure will work towards our future success. This is the right time to move towards a new phase for my business.”

The announcement comes as The Australian reports Alan Yazbek used antisemitic slurs against his Jewish landlords during a 2021 dispute over the premises of Nomad restaurant in Surry Hills. Yazbek has been contacted for comment.

The company’s three high-end restaurants – Nomad Sydney, Nomad Melbourne and Reine & La Rue in Melbourne – will not be renamed under the restructure.

Anthony Bell and Michael Clarke.Credit: Getty

“We’ve spent some time putting this new structure together and as I listened to Rebecca articulate her vision for the business and her plans for the future, I knew I wanted to be involved, and jumped at the chance to join her as an adviser,” Bell said in a joint statement with Rebecca Yazbek.

Alan Yazbek will head to an ashram in India before returning for his sentencing hearing on December 10. He pleaded guilty last month to knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney’s CBD in October.

He was arrested after holding a poster that replaced the star of David on the Israeli flag with a swastika and compared Israel to Nazis. Yazbek stepped down from his role as co-director of Nomad Group after his arrest.

Alan Yazbek at the pro-Palestine rally in Sydney.Credit: Facebook

Both Nomad Sydney and Reine & La Rue had been recognised in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide but were removed on October 11 following backlash from the rally.

Nomad Group was also removed from the Australian Restaurant & Cafe Association the same day.

In a statement made later that day, Yazbek said he apologised “unequivocally for my actions at the demonstration on Sunday where I carried a sign that is deeply offensive to the Jewish community”.

“Friends and acquaintances who know me – both Jewish and gentile – know that I am not an antisemite, and they also know how passionate I am about supporting diversity and equality in both my personal life and within the Nomad group of businesses,” he said.

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