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Financially-strapped real estate developer Mohamed Hadid — the celebrity dad of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid — claimed he’s the “victim” of a predatory lender after filing for bankruptcy over a prized California property, The Post has learned.

Hadid, who made cameo appearances on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” when it featured his ex-wife Yolanda Hadid, has been locked in a nasty legal battle with real estate mogul Zach Vella — a fellow reality TV alum of Bravos Million Dollar Listing.”

Their knock-down, drag-out dispute stems from a $31 million loan Vella’s company Skylark Capital gave Hadid’s Tree Lane LLC in 2018 to develop a four-acre lot in an exclusive Beverly Hills enclave that counts Hollywood stars Ashton Kutcher and his wife, Mila Kunis, as residents.

Last month, the 74-year-old Hadid — a Palestinian born in the Israeli city of Nazareth and an outspoken critic of the Jewish state — pushed the property into bankruptcy. It’s the fifth such filing in less than five years in Los Angeles to prevent a land grab by Vella, he told The Post in an exclusive interview.

I believe I was a victim and now I have to fight my fight, Hadid said.

They gave us enough money to hang ourselves and then they stopped funding.

Vella, Skylark and its attorney Matthew Lewis did not return repeated calls and emails for comment. 

Vella, who has developed properties in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles, is far from media shy. His 2015 wedding to jewelry designer Michelle Campbell took place at Ashford Castle in Ireland was featured in Wedding Style magazine.

In 2022, he sued Hadid over the pricey plot in Bella Vista Estates at 2451 Summitridge Drive, located next to gated homes that boast expansive living space, gourmet kitchens, and lavish amenities such as custom movie theatres, game rooms, wine cellars, according to real estate firm  RubyHome.

A rendering for the 30,000-square-foot property supplied by Hadid to The Post shows he planned to build a four-level mansion with floor-to-ceiling windows, featuring infinity pools that overlook a private tennis court. The plans also include a spa, home theater and an eight-car garage with a car lift.

However, it remains undeveloped six years after Skylark signed the loan agreement as Hadid suffered several financial setbacks — including a $100 million debacle over a Bel-Air mansion, nicknamed Starship Enterprise, that a judge ordered him to tear down in 2019 before it was completed.

Vella’s lawsuit has accused Hadid of “outright theft” and of being a “fraud.”

It was and is very important to Hadid that he present himself as a wealthy and successful real estate developer and to appear in the public eye as such, Skylark alleged in the lawsuit.

Hadid regularly patronizes well known Beverly Hills restaurants, sitting in a place easily publicly observable and photographable, and surrounds himself with young women whose ages approximate those of his daughters, the complaint said.

Hadid sought bankruptcy protection on April 26 the same day a court hearing was scheduled to appoint an independent receiver for the Summitridge property. 

In a legal filing ahead of a May 29 court hearing, Hadid asked the judge to approve an emergency loan for $7.7 million from a new lender — 364 Capital LLC — who will finance emergency repairs to the property as he vets other lenders to help him finish the project.

Once the property is fully developed it will be worth up to $85 million and the sale will make everyone whole, Hadid claimed in the filing.

The judge has yet to rule on Hadid’s request.

Hadid and Vella’s complicated history began with a meeting initiated by Vella in 2018, Hadid told The Post, at a time when he was desperate for funding to start work on an even more expensive Beverly Hills development at nearby 9650 Cedarbrook Drive.

The two discussed a deal while walking around the 37-acre site, which was later listed at $250 million but was knocked down to just $68 million last September.

According to renderings, the Cedarbrook compound would include a 78,000 square-foot main house with 19 bedrooms, a 36-person home theater, a Turkish bath, a wine cellar with a tasting room, a hot yoga room, staff quarters and a car collectors garage, along with a guest house.

We met across from the Beverly Hills hotel and [Vella] said, lets go to the property Hadid told The Post. 

Vella said I have a lot of money that I want to invest and I said thats music to my ears.’

Shortly after the fateful tour, Vella formed Skylark and drew up two loan commitments, according to court records. Skylark agreed to $92.7 million loan for Cedarbrook for Hadid-owned Treetop Development and $31 million for Summitridge to Tree Lane, according to Hadid and court records. 

But their relationship soon soured. Hadid alleges that Vella approached Kutcher and Kunis with a secret deal to develop the Summitridge parcel shortly after the loan closed.

Vella bought land below and adjacent to Hadids property to build a separate home and then transferred one acre of Summitridges land to his own property, Hadid claimed in court filings.

Hadid said Vella led him to believe that the one-acre parcel would be part of a subdivision that the two would develop together, increasing the value of the entire project, according to court documents.

Instead, Vella reached out to two neighbors who had certain easement rights and offered to partner with the neighbors to take over and develop” the property, Hadid alleged in the complaint a couple of years ago.

Those neighbors were Kutcher and Kunis, more recent court filings reveal.

The Post reached out to the couple for comment, but a representative did not return a call and email.

A distressed asset expert said Vellas alleged move could raise eyebrows in court.

A judge might see that as strange, Adam Stein-Sapir told The Post

 Its not typical lender behavior and it could sound like a lender with ulterior motives.

Hadid said he has only received $21.4 million of the $31 million loan, according to court filings. Of that amount, more than $13 million went toward fees and paying off Hadids debts, court records show.

He claimed in court filings that Skylarks goal all along was to force him into foreclosure in a loan-to-own scheme by not disbursing funds to Tree Lane in a timely manner.  

I was too anxious to get these projects going [and] didnt really ask where he was getting money from, Hadid told The Post. 

He was trying to take advantage of my demise, Hadid said of Vella.

The Cedarbrook property has also languished with excavations made for the foundations. Vella sued Hadid for defaulting on the loan on Cedarbrook in 2021, leading Hadid to file for bankruptcy protection on that property in 2022.

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The two settled that legal dispute on April 4 to expedite a sale of Cedarbrook, but the bankruptcy case is still pending.

Hadid pushed another property into bankruptcy in 2019 after the Bel-Air disaster.

The monstrous mansionat 901 Strada Vecchia Road was deemed a clear and present danger to the homes below it because Hadid violated building codes.

He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three years probation.

His other bankruptcy filings were in 2021 over projects near Santa Monica, Calif.

The five bankruptcies in such a short span of time is hard to reconcile, no matter the circumstances, experts said.

One o the jobs of a developer is picking lenders and contractors, Stein-Sapir said. In this situation, Vella didnt turn out to be a good lender for him and whether Vella screwed him or not, Hadid did sign on the dotted line.

Hadid made headlines in April for a homophobic rant aimed at Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) over his support of Israel. 

You worse than the rats of New York sewage system. They have bigger brains than you. You might get a job as bouncer at gay bar, Hadid wrote.

He later apologized. 

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£104bn of water industry investment will come from bill payers, environment secretary concedes

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£104bn of water industry investment will come from bill payers, environment secretary concedes

Steve Reed has conceded that the bulk of the £104bn of water industry investment which he boasts Labour has attracted since coming to office will come from bill payers.

In an interview with Sky News, the environment secretary sought to blame the previous Tory government for a string of high profile investors walking away from the sector over the last year.

Mr Reed does not accept claims that further threats to jail water bosses and promises to curb price rises have deterred investment.

Instead, he told Sky News that “by bringing in the £104bn of private sector investment that we secured at the end of last year, we can make sure that the investment is going in to support” the industry.

When challenged that the £104bn was total expenditure not total investment, and that bill payers would pay back this expenditure over the coming decades, Mr Reed conceded this was right – and the money ultimately is coming from bill payers.

“The money comes in from investors up front so we can do that spending straight away,” he said.

“Over decades, the investors got a modest return from the bills that customers are paying. That’s how investment works.”

Some investors have warned they do not think it viable to fund the UK water sector because of the hostile political tone of ministers and lack of certainty.

Ministers have said the government does not want to renationalise water as it would mean years of legal wrangling and cost a lot of money.

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Minister rules out nationalising the water

Labour has launched a record 81 criminal investigations into water companies over sewage dumping since winning the election last year.

Water company bosses could be jailed for up to five years and the companies fined hundreds of millions of pounds if they are found guilty.

Mr Reed committed to not interfering with those prosecutions, saying it would be “highly inappropriate” for any minister to do so.

Read more:
Key recommendations from the water report

Labour to eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in 10 years

He rejected suggestions ministers will be pressured to ensure water bosses do not serve jail time as this will deter investors.

“It’s a judicial process, it would be highly inappropriate for any ministerial interference in the process,” Mr Reed said.

“They will work their way through the court system, as they should do, and ministers will decide on sanctions after.”

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World

Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh – at least 19 people dead

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Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh - at least 19 people dead

At least 19 people have died after a Bangladesh air force plane crashed into a college campus, the military said.

The aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, in the northern area of the capital Dhaka, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

The pilot was one of the people killed, and, according to the military, 164 were injured in the incident.

The Bangladesh military’s public relations department added that the aircraft was an F-7 BGI, and had taken off at 1.06pm local time before crashing shortly after.

Video shows fire and smoke rising from the crash site, with hundreds looking on.

Pic: Reurters
The wreckage of an air force training aircraft after it crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pics: Reuters

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo said that most of the injured were students with burn injuries.

Firefighters and volunteers work after an air force training aircraft crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pics: Reuters

Citing the duty officer at the fire service control room, Prothom Alo also reported that the plane had crashed on the roof of the college canteen.

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Rafiqa Taha, a 16-year-old student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told the Associated Press that the school has around 2,000 students.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” she added. “My God! It’s my school.”

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World

Homes burning after mass pillaging and 30,000 trapped in besieged city – as Syria’s fragile ceasefire holds

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Homes burning after mass pillaging and 30,000 trapped in besieged city - as Syria's fragile ceasefire holds

The main road entering the besieged Syrian city of Sweida from the west has changed dramatically over 12 hours.

A bulldozer, parked on the side of the road, has been used to create several berms to form a sand barrier around 25km (16 miles) from the city centre.

Dozens of Syrian security forces were standing in lines in front of the barricades when we arrived, and there were forces further up the road stopping vehicles from going any further.

Security forces at checkpoint
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Syrian security forces at a checkpoint outside the besieged city

The Arab tribal fighters we’d seen fighting furiously inside the city the day before were now all camped alongside the road. Some were sleeping on the back of their pick-ups.

“We’re not giving up,” one shouted to us as we walked towards the checkpoint.

The ceasefire agreement between Druze leaders who are bunkered down inside the city and the Bedouins – and the tribal fighters who have flocked to join them – has frustrated some.

Some of them, waiting with guns slung over their backs, are itching to return to battle. But for now, tribal leaders have instructed them to hold fire.

More on Syria

Read more: Who are the Druze and who are they fighting in Syria?

Arab fighters blocked from going forward
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Arab tribal fighters have been blocked from entering Sweida by security forces

How long that will last is probably key to Syria’s future and whether it can be a peaceful one.

Khalaf al Modhi, the head of a group of tribes called United Tribes, told the group of fighters: “We are not against the Druze. We are not here to kill the Druze.”

But he spent many minutes castigating the senior Druze cleric inside Sweida whom many of the tribes see as the agitator behind the violent clashes.

An Arab tribal chief
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Khalaf al Modhi, who is the leader of a tribal group called United Tribes

Hikmat al Hijiri is head of a Druze faction that is deeply suspicious of the new government led by Ahmed al Sharaa and is resisting ceding power to Damascus.

The retreat of the Arab tribes from the city centre means the Druze militia under Hijiri’s control are now the ones deciding who goes in or out of the city.

About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the city and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water.

Druze civilian Kamal Tarrabey
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Druze civilian Kamal Tarrabey. He said 10 of his relatives were killed in the violent clashes

The humanitarian situation is dramatically worsening by the day. But at the time of writing, there were still no agreed safe corridors to bring out those pinned inside.

On top of this, there are nearly 130,000 people displaced and forced out of their homes because of the fighting, according to UN estimates.

Maintaining the ceasefire is key to ensuring solutions are found to help those suffering, and quickly. It’s also the most serious challenge facing the new Syrian leader and his interim government.

The level of distrust between the Hijiri-led Druze faction and the new government is strong and deep. So much so that the Druze leaders have refused to accept truckloads of aid organised by any of the government outlets.

White Helmets wait
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The White Helmets wait outside Sweida as the Druze leaders accept little aid from them due to their government connections

The new Syrian leader has struggled to convince the country’s minorities that their safety under his leadership is assured.

Druze civilians and human rights activists reported mass killings and executions of Druze by government troops who were sent in last week to quell the latest clashes between the Druze and Arab Bedouins who have been at odds for many years.

Read more from Sky News:
At least 67 killed while waiting for aid in Gaza, officials say
Fourteen people die in South Korea after torrential rain

A map showing Syria and Israel in relation to Sweida, where there have been deadly clashes in recent days

Government forces pulled out of the city only after Israel unleashed a spate of airstrikes, saying they were defending the Druze. The bombings killed hundreds of Syrian troops.

But with the withdrawal of the government troops, the Arab Bedouin population said the city’s Druze militia embarked on a string of revenge atrocities.

That in turn led to thousands of tribal fighters massing from around the country to defend their Arab brethren.

Smoke rises from buildings in the city centre of Sweida
Image:
Smoke rises from buildings in the city centre of Sweida

When we were inside the city, we saw multiple corpses lying on the streets, and many appeared to have been killed with a shot to the head.

Homes and businesses are still burning after mass pillaging as fighters retreated.

And now, there is a growing humanitarian disaster unfolding.

Additional reporting by camera operator Garwen McLuckie, specialist producer Chris Cunningham, as well as Syrian producers Mahmoud Mossa and Ahmed Rahhal.

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