This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AN arrest warrant has been issued for controversial Sydney developer Jean Nassif, boss of Toplace, over an alleged large-scale fraud relating to his company’s 900-unit Skyview Apartments project in Castle Hill – but he remains overseas, believed to travelling between Lebanon and south east Asia.
His daughter, Sydney lawyer Ashlyn Nassif, has been arrested for allegedly falsifying a $10.5 million pre-condition to secure a $150 million loan from Westpac for the development. She is also being investigated by the same strike force as her father, and is not allowed to contact him as part of her bail conditions.
Jean Nassif is the director of two companies linked to the construction site in Sydney’s north west, 51 OCHR and JKN Finance, which fell into receivership in March. Two of the project’s five buildings have been completed. Late last year, it had its building licence permanently revoked and Nassif was banned from holding a building licence for 10 years after the NSW Department of Fair Trading uncovered over 40 alleged defects in residential developments, including Skyview. The decision was appealed and paused in January, but the company would require approval from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the commissioner of Fair Trading before taking on new contracts.
In the middle of 2021, Toplace had agreed to be liable for any current and future defects across the Skyview development for 20 years in exchange for the NSW building commissioner lifting a prohibition order following audits on the development by NSW Fair Trading.
“We can’t conclusively confirm where Mr. Nassif is at the moment, however, if he is offshore and overseas then we’ll commence the appropriate conversations with those people in relation to that,” said detective superintendent Peter Faux, speaking about Nassif’s arrest warrant.
“We’ve only just applied for the arrest warrant. We’re now looking at those options in relation to if he is offshore.
Nassif is reportedly travelling between Lebanon, Singapore and the Philippines, according to Nine media, which also reported that Nassif does not want to be arrested at an airport and would rather “front up to authorities on his own terms”. He has meanwhile been borrowing millions of dollars, using properties including a waterfront home in Chiswick that he bought in 2015 for $4.9 million as security.
Nassif and Toplace had become the focus of a NSW parliamentary committee recently after Liberal MP Ray Williams made a speech in parliament last year in which he alleged members of the party were “paid significant funds” to install new councillors within Hills Shire to support Toplace’s development applications.
In March, Nassif tipped a 1.64-hectare industrial parcel near Sydney Airport at 146 and 154 O’Riordan Street to the market with expectations of more than $100 million. He bought the latter site, at 1.4 hectares, for $32 million from Dexus in 2015. He obtained a permit for 96 hotel rooms and 444 serviced apartments for the property.
In 2021, Nassif sold a Parramatta site to developer Tim Gurner and real estate financier Qualitas’s built-to-rent platform for around $70 million, and also sold a 7.65-hectare western Sydney logistics site to Goodman Group for $140 million, netting a $75 million profit
Nassif became a viral social media sensation in 2019 when he infamously uploaded a video of him presenting his wife with a yellow Lamborghini on Valentine’s Day, infamously saying, “Congratulations, Mrs Nassif. You like?”. The phrase was mocked and imitated by thousands of people.
