Ray Hadley has major win in fugitive Jean Nassif’s defamation case

1 week ago 6

International fugitive Jean Nassif has mislaid a tribunal bid to support his multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against broadcaster Ray Hadley alive, aft a tribunal rejected his exertion to revive the case.

A warrant was issued for Nassif’s apprehension successful June past year implicit an alleged slope fraud. Separately, Nassif’s operation empire, including Toplace Pty Ltd and dozens of related entities, was placed into medication successful July.

While Nassif near Australia for Lebanon successful precocious 2022 and has not returned, helium had persevered successful his defamation lawsuit against the Sydney broadcaster and vigor presumption 2GB.

The lawsuit was filed successful the Federal Court successful July 2020 implicit broadcasts astir Nassif’s residential projects. It was automatically axed successful March aft helium failed to comply with tribunal orders.

Nassif told the ABC past month successful Beirut that helium was prepared to instrumentality to Australia to “fix” his improvement empire if constabulary dropped their “bullshit of an arrest”.

Justice Wendy Abraham quoted from that interrogation and said successful a judgement connected Tuesday that she was “not satisfied that Mr Nassif volition apt instrumentality to Australia for the foreseeable future”. She rejected Nassif’s exertion to reinstate the defamation lawsuit and ordered him to wage the media parties’ costs.

The justice said she was “not satisfied that if the proceedings are reinstated the applicant would apt instrumentality to prosecute them wrong an acceptable time”.

‘Hiding successful Lebanon’

“I’ve been waiting a long, agelong clip to accidental what I tin accidental present astir Toplace and Jean Nassif,” Hadley said aft Tuesday’s decision, adding that Nassif was “hiding successful Lebanon”.

“I’ve been nether tremendous unit due to the fact that of this bloke,” Hadley said.

Toplace is down a bid of troubled flat projects successful Sydney including successful Canterbury and Parramatta. Hadley said hundreds, if not thousands, of radical had been “let down financially” aft buying apartments from Nassif.

The judge’s decision

The justice said determination was “no aesculapian evidence” to enactment an assertion that Nassif had a hernia repaired successful June past year, “with the lone purported impervious being photographs … [of Nassif] successful an evident infirmary setting”.

She said Nassif had “failed to show that helium ever lacked a capableness to travel”.

“That is, determination is nary aesculapian crushed relied connected arsenic to wherefore helium could not person returned to Australia; helium simply chose not to,” the justice said.

Abraham noted that The Daily Telegraph had published a photograph of Nassif, “said to beryllium taken successful a casino connected 8 April 2024, smoking a cigar and surrounded by idiosyncratic security”.

Jean Nassif has submitted a photograph of himself successful a Lebanese infirmary arsenic impervious of a aesculapian ailment preventing him returning to Australia.

“At look worth it reflects that the applicant is surviving his beingness successful Lebanon, seemingly unrestricted by immoderate wellness issues.”

Nassif “accepts that helium is depicted successful the photograph, and nary grounds oregon submission was precocious to situation the assertion”, Abraham said, though it was “not indispensable to trust connected this photograph to resoluteness these applications”.

The circumstances suggested Nassif had “little incentive” to instrumentality to Australia “for the foreseeable future”, Abraham said, including that determination was a warrant retired for his arrest, his companies are successful administration, an administrator’s study to the creditors of 57 Toplace companies made “adverse conclusions” astir him, and his slope accounts are frozen.

The administrator’s study has estimated the Toplace radical has debts to unsecured creditors totalling $1.6 billion.

Tortured past of litigation

The defamation lawsuit had a tortured history.

Nine, the proprietor of 2GB and this masthead, had a triumph past year erstwhile the tribunal ordered Nassif and 2 of his companies to wage $900,000 successful information into tribunal to screen the media parties’ ineligible costs successful the lawsuit helium mislaid the lawsuit.

Nassif paid the archetypal tranche of $300,000 connected October 9 past year, 2 weeks aft a 28-day deadline. Abraham noted the outgo was made “one time earlier activating a self-executing bid which would person dismissed the proceedings”.

“His slope accounts are frozen. There is nary grounds of the root of the funds for the (late) outgo of the archetypal tranche of information for costs,” the justice said.

The 2nd and 3rd tranches of $300,000 were not yet due. The proceedings were stayed – efficaciously paused – successful September past twelvemonth due to the fact that helium failed to conscionable the deadline for the archetypal payment.

In February this year, lawyers for Nassif foreshadowed helium would question different enactment of the proceedings pending the determination of immoderate transgression proceedings against him successful Australia. However, the defamation lawsuit was automatically axed erstwhile Nassif missed a deadline of March 11 to record that enactment application.

Having missed that deadline, Nassif applied to person the lawsuit reinstated for a shorter play of six months. He was ordered to wage an further $50,000 successful information into tribunal for the media parties’ costs. The wealth was paid connected April 9.

Comment was sought from Nine.