Fugitive developer Jean Nassif, whose defect-riddled property empire lies in ruins with debts of more than $1 billion, has made a last-minute payment of $300,000 to keep alive his defamation case against Sydney radio station 2GB and host Ray Hadley.
On August 29, the Federal Court ordered Nassif and two of his companies to pay a combined $900,000, in three tranches of $300,000, in security to cover his legal costs in the event he lost the case against Harbour Radio, which is owned by Nine, also the owner of this masthead.
Ray Hadley and Jean Nassif.
The money arrived on October 9, the day before proceedings were due to be dismissed.
It is not clear how the payment was made as the court had previously heard that Nassif’s personal bank accounts had been closed and his business accounts frozen. The court order stipulated the money had to be paid by an “irrevocable bank guarantee(s) issued by an Australian bank”.
The $300,000 payment was a complete surprise for Jenny Nettleton, who was appointed in March as the receiver of one of Nassif’s companies suing Hadley.
Images from Nissy Nassif’s Instagram page showing her and husband Jean Nassif and her yellow Lamborghini.Credit: Instagram
The company, 51 OCHR Pty Ltd, owned Nassif’s troubled Skyview development at 51 Old Castle Hill Road.
“I wasn’t aware money had been paid,” said Nettleton, a partner at insolvency firm KordaMentha. “We’re trying to get out of that case.”
Nassif, 55, launched the defamation case in July 2020 complaining that in eight broadcasts Hadley had damaged Nassif’s reputation by suggesting he was a “shoddy developer”, dishonest, and that buyers should have concerns about dealing with him.
Damage in the basement of the Skyview development in Castle Hill.
Nassif’s solicitor Rebekah Giles has previously claimed that Hadley resorted to “extravagant and unreasonable language” to convey his opinions, including one comment on air that Hadley would not “live in a tent that Mr Nassif was building, let alone a high rise”.
At the time, Nassif and his company Toplace said they were suing in order to “protect the excellent reputation in the construction industry that they have built over many decades”.
However, the ensuing three years have not been kind to Nassif or his construction empire.
In June, a warrant was issued for his arrest over an alleged fraud relating to falsified sales contracts used to secure a $150 million Westpac loan on Toplace’s Skyview development in Castle Hill.
According to the police fact sheet, Nassif, who is believed to be in Lebanon, was picked up on phone taps requesting lawyers to move sale contracts from apartments in one Skyview building to secure bank funding for another building.
In the intercepted calls Nassif says these contracts are “fake”, “never going to be completed anyway” and that the deposits are “my money”.
Unfinished apartments at Toplace’s Skyview in Castle Hill.Credit: Peter Rae
In July, his construction company Toplace was placed into administration with debts of more than $1 billion. Creditors include a number of owners corporations that had obtained rectification orders requiring Toplace to fix their faulty buildings.
As a result of failing to rectify defects, Fair Trading has removed Nassif’s building licence for 10 years while Toplace’s has been permanently revoked.
Nassif is also believed to be at the centre of an ICAC inquiry over allegations made in NSW parliament by Liberal MP Ray Williams that senior party officials had taken bribes to install pro-Nassif councillors on Hills Shire Council.
Nassif shot to fame on Valentine’s Day 2019 when he posted on social media his gift to his wife Nissy of a canary-yellow Lamborghini accompanied by Nassif famously saying, “Congratulations, Mrs Nassif. You like?”
Jean Nassif in happier times with his now estranged wife Nissy.
In September that year, Nassif was arrested with a bag of cocaine at his wife’s 32nd birthday party at Star casino, where he was a high-roller.
“The fact is there was no conviction recorded against my client on account of his good character and standing in the community,” Giles said in a statement following his subsequent guilty plea and the imposition of an 18-month corrections order.
Since then, the $480,000 Lamborghini has been repossessed and the couple have had an acrimonious parting of ways with his former wife reverting to her maiden name of Matta.
Earlier this month, Matta told The Daily Telegraph that during her 15-year relationship, Nassif had been “highly controlling and very abusive” and that she has been left with nothing.
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