[URBAN NOTE] "The Toronto developer, the Iranian fugitive and the bitter condo feud"

[rfmcdonald]

Laurent Bastien's article in The Globe and Mail makes for compelling reading indeed. What scandal!

Five years ago, Sam Mizrahi, one of Toronto’s most ambitious real estate developers, found himself in a basement in the city’s Bridle Path neighbourhood. It was there, he says, he began to fear for his safety.

In a span of just a few hours, one of the main financial backers of two of his luxury condominium projects, Mahmoud Khavari, had become one of Iran’s most wanted men, having left his position as the chairman of the country’s largest bank and fled to Canada amid a corruption scandal.

With Iran demanding Mr. Khavari’s immediate return, Mr. Mizrahi feared being caught in the crossfire of a potentially violent international dispute as they debated the future of their business partnership inside the former banker’s Toronto home.

The agreement worked out in that basement in the hours that followed the frantic flight to Canada has become the subject of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit before the Ontario Superior Court, and led to a feud between Mr. Mizrahi and the Khavari family of near-Shakespearian proportion, involving alleged death threats, international intrigue and some of the city’s hottest real estate.

The Khavaris, who dispute the threats of violence, are seeking at least $35-million in damages from their former business partner, arguing that they were denied a stake in two Yorkville properties in which they invested money, along with three others that include the massive, 80-storey One Bloor tower, the crown jewel of Mr. Mizrahi’s condominium empire.