Fugitive builder Jean Nassif – famed for gifting a yellow Lambo to his ex-wife – resurfaces to call himself the ‘number one’ developer on earth as he promises to fix dodgy apartments if police do him a deal

A fugitive developer who gained fame for gifting his former wife a yellow Lamborghini says he will return to Australia to fix his faulty apartments if police promise not to arrest him.

Jean Nassif made a series of wild claims and vows about his business affairs in his first major interview since fleeing Australia in December 2022, leaving millions in debt and thousands of buyers stuck with uninhabitable units.

Mr Nassif, who is of Lebanese descent, was tracked down by police in the capital Beirut. ABC reporters and agreed to meet them at a cafe.

He is wanted by NSW police on charges of massive fraud, but Mr Nasif, 55, said if these are cleared he will return to Australia and restore thousands of substandard apartments sold by his company Toplace.

“I will fix it,” Mr Nassif, who called himself the “number one developer on the planet” during the interview, told the ABC.

“If they move this bulls*** of an arrest and allow me to go back and take my business without making anything up, and put me in jail.

“I have already asked the police to mediate and allow me to negotiate bail, set aside the arrest, because I am not a criminal.”

After saying he was ready to return to Australia by the end of the year, he later contacted ABC reporters to say he was seriously ill with a brain infection and in hospital.

Calling himself “the son of God” who “will not allow evil to prevail on this earth”, Mr Nassif claimed all accusations against him came from high-profile Sydney identities, who resented his meteoric rise, or from Lebanese gangs who tried to blackmail him.

Establishment figures targeted him because he was an upstart outsider, he alleged, saying he had been blocked everywhere by the government and the media had been used to destroy his name and character.

‘What did I do wrong? Who did I steal? Where is the victim?’ Mr. Nassif asked, protesting his innocence.

In 2022, planning permissions for Mr Nassif and Toplace were revoked after a series of serious problems were discovered at the developer’s Atmosphere and Skyview apartments in Castle Hill and the Vicinity apartments in Canterbury, both in Sydney’s west.

Vicinity’s 400 residents were saddled with a repair bill of up to $100 million, while 900 apartments in the five towers of Toplace’s Skyview development were deemed unsafe to even inhabit due to cracks discovered by building inspectors in 2021.

After Mr Nassif fled Australia, leaving his family behind, Toplace was placed into administration after racking up debts of more than $600 million.

Auditors found that Toplace was likely insolvent as early as 2020 and that the company had failed to maintain proper records to track a wide range of intercompany loans and transactions, some of which went offshore.

They also alleged that Mr. Nassif had embezzled company funds for his personal use.

Mr Nassif denied all these allegations, labeling them as ‘false’ and ‘lies’.

He said the money he took out of the business came from his own wages and the business remained “very strong.”

The Nassifs became meme-worthy as an example of decadent opulence after Mr. Nassif posted an infamous Valentine’s Day TikTok where he gave his then-wife a yellow Lamborghini.

As he filmed the car being delivered to the couple, his ex-wife posed in front of it exchanging kisses while wearing ripped designer jeans, a Gucci belt and matching yellow basque with rose-pink sunglasses.

Mr. Nassif said from behind the camera, “And the beast arrives. Congratulations to my new wife – it’s finally in our garage. Congratulations Mrs. Nassif? Do you like it?…Do you like it?’

The footage led to a series of parody videos mocking the couple, with clips of bananas, yellow rubber gloves and trash cans with yellow lids, in a creepy drawl: “Do you like it?…Do you like it?”

After her husband fled, Mrs Nassif suffered the humiliation of having the $480,000 Lamborghini seized from a car park at the Rhodes shopping center in Sydney’s west by administrators recovering assets to repay Toplace’s creditors.

“I was in Coles, in Rhodes shopping centre… we go back to where I parked it and it’s gone,” she told the Daily Telegraph.

‘The children were crying and trying to help me find it. “I called security and they checked the cameras (in the parking lot) and saw someone was taking the camera.”

Other vehicles belonging to Mr Nassif’s relatives have also been seized by administrators.

Mr Nasif told the ABC such news causes him mental distress.

‘They are stealing my empire before my eyes. I am destroying my family,” he said.

‘They took my children’s cars. They should be ashamed. And now they want to confiscate the house where my three small children live.”

During his reign as one of Sydney’s most prominent developers, Mr Nassif was caught with cocaine at Sydney’s Star Casino but escaped conviction because of his good character.

He told the ABC he did not have a drug problem because he “didn’t have time for those things” when running his empire.

In 2022, a Liberal MP used parliamentary privilege to accuse Mr Nassif of paying “significant sums” to a Liberal Party lobbyist to get a council to approve the developments.

He denied the accusation.

Mr. Nassif alleged that Lebanese gang members demanded $6 million in bribes from him to lift a freeze on work on a Toplace project and “resolve” all his problems with a municipality.

Such extortion was rife in Sydney, he claimed.

‘There are many who deal drugs, steal and force people to pay money for ransom or for protection. You pay, otherwise someone will come and steal you or break your windows,” he told the ABC.

He also denied allegations that he fabricated evidence to obtain a $150 million loan from Westpac bank, which led to the arrest warrant for Mr Nassif.

His daughter Ashlyn has been arrested and accused of helping to forge contracts for the loan.

In his case, Mr. Nassif claims he never received an order and only knew about it through the media.

NSW Police told the ABC they have contacted Nassif’s legal team with the allegations and are applying for an Interpol Red Notice, a global arrest warrant.

During the interview, Nassif also denied claims made in a Western Australian court case that he had supplied 10 kilograms of ice.

He said such accusations were just further attempts to “cloud his name.”