hadid drains saudi escrow account without court permission

Late on Friday November 12, 2021, Hadid filed papers in the Coldwater Development Bankruptcy case admitting that he had taken $1.5 million dollars that had previously been deposited in an escrow account by the unnamed Saudi Royal Family member behind Pacific Green Vista. The money was paid to escrow as a deposit in connection with the Royal’s supposed intended purchase of the two Coldwater lots but neither the Royal nor the transaction ever materialized or closed. As per documents filed in court (and Hadid’s counsel’s representations), when the transaction did not close, the Royal money was supposed to be forfeited and then become an asset of bankruptcy estate to be held in trust until further court order.

Despite the Saudi escrow money being property of the estate, Hadid nevertheless drained the Saudi account (without court permission) and then refunded the forfeited deposit money to the unnamed Saudi Royal. This is arguably against Bankruptcy law and court order.

To make matters even worse, Hadid apparently then replaced the drained Saudi funds with other mysterious money but instead of depositing the full $1.5 million taken without permission, he now admits he used $400,000 to pay expenses. This too is arguably against Bankruptcy law and court order.

Does Mr. Hadid claim an excuse for such brazen behavior? Of course!

As per the papers he filed on Friday, Mr. Hadid now blames Hillsides Against Hadid for apparently “outing” the identity of the Saudi Royal buyer on June 26, 2021 which he claims scared the Royal away and forced Hadid to refund the money. Nonsense.

We published only what Mr. Hadid himself publicly filed the day before in the Bankruptcy court (June 25, 2021). (See our posting about the Saudi Royal buyer HERE.)

Thus, if the buyer was really frightened for some reason (as a starting point, we have our doubts that there was an actual “buyer” at all), it was Hadid himself who scarred the Royal away. And arguably who wouldn’t be frightened entering into any business transaction with Hadid at this point, given his recent track record? Read Hadid’s latest court filing HERE.