SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Mohamed Hadid was defiant Friday during his long-awaited testimony in the Bel Air battle royale over his soon-to-be demolished $50 million spec mansion now in receivership.
The developer dad of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid was called to the stand by his suing neighbors and repeatedly defended the problem-plagued modern mansion at the center of the rarefied real estate ruckus.
“I’m known to take projects that are difficult and in the higher end of the market,” he testified. “I’m proud of all the projects I do.”
Confronted with evidence the hillside property suffered from landslides in 2014 and received a stop-work order amid claims of “unsecured open excavations,” unapproved retaining walls, overly steep slopes and inadequate drainage, Hadid was adamant the project on Strada Vecchia Road never threatened its downhill neighbors.
“Every stop-work order was complied with, and we moved forward,” Hadid claimed.
“If you were living underneath this property, would you have reason to be concerned?” Gary Lincenberg, the lawyer for the two couples suing Hadid, asked.
“No, sir,” Hadid, 72, shot back as his two eldest daughters, Alana and Marielle, watched from the courtroom gallery.
Hadid claimed that instead of putting his suing neighbors at risk, he actually became the subject of a “shakedown” for a whopping $3.5 million.
His testimony Friday covered a secret recording he made in August 2014 during a meeting with one of the plaintiff neighbors, Joseph Horacek, a founding partner at the powerful law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips.
“He was trying to extort money from me,” Hadid testified Friday, referring to Horacek. “It was time for me to say, ‘I’m not going to take this extortion anymore.’”
In clips of the recording played for jurors, Hadid and Horacek discussed reaching a possible “confidential agreement” to settle Horacek’s claims the massive structure derisively dubbed the “Starship Enterprise” had “devalued” his property.
“I think we can work something out,” Hadid said in the recording. “We’ll figure out a number.”
Hadid mentioned $2 million at one point. Horacek threw out $3 million.
If they managed to strike a deal, Horacek said he would “gracefully withdraw” from any further opposition to the construction project.
“We have Manatt notify the city that we’re no longer pursuing the claim,” Horacek said in one clip played for jurors.
Lincenberg argued in his opening statement that Horacek and his wife Beatriz, along with fellow suing neighbors John and Judith Bedrosian, have a right to compensation in the case after Hadid allegedly flouted the law and compromised the safety and value of their neighboring homes.
In their June 2018 lawsuit, the plaintiff couples claimed Hadid built a “blatantly illegal” structure, “essentially a small hotel,” atop an “unstable hillside,” leaving them in “constant fear.”
They claim Hadid’s project, which led to a lawsuit filed by the city and eventual demolition order, used a second set of secret plans, false walls, a trap door, bribes and lookouts to keep the project going after the stop-work order in 2014.
Hadid has countersued in the case, accusing Horacek of the alleged extortion.
His lawyer Jeff Reeves said during opening statements that Hadid was “happy” to finally have his day in court, calling the developer “a unique master-class home designer” who builds “works of art.”
Not long after Hadid started the project in 2011, the telegenic tycoon who appeared on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” with ex-wife Yolanda Hadid said he hoped the home would be his modern masterpiece, capable of fetching more than $100 million.
With an exterior of Carrara marble and gleaming glass, the home was due to boast a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, an infinity-edge pool with views to the ocean and possibly even the largest home-based IMAX theater ever built.
In his testimony Friday, Hadid said he never actually sought approval for the IMAX theater.
He also said the home’s so-called “secret door” mentioned by plaintiffs was actually part of his design, a camouflaged exit carved into the geometric wood paneling design on a wall.
In her own turn on the witness stand Tuesday, plaintiff Judith Bedrosian was asked about her reaction to evidence allegedly showing the piles used to anchor the home to the hillside were inadequate.
“I was horrified,” she said. “If they all are lacking rebar, it could come down (with) a mudslide. ...It’s frightening.”
Hadid testified Friday that multiple “orders to comply” are not unusual on his projects considering the large scale of the custom homes he builds.
“I like the orders to comply. I like the idea of someone watching over me who cares about the project,” he said. “We comply, and we get our permits, and we sell them and move on.”
