Celebrity property developer Mohamed Hadid is facing jail time over his extravagant, illegally constructed Bel-Air mansion after refusing to halt construction and demolish unapproved features.
Hadid, who has starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Shahs of Sunset, has pleaded no contest to three charges of criminally violating building regulations.
The construction, nicknamed the “Starship Enterprise”, has become the epitome of excessive and possibly unsafe development peppered through the area.
The nearly 30,000-square-feet Bel-Air home reportedly has unapproved additional bedrooms, guest suites built below a swimming pool, decks and a theatre. But we’re not talking an in-home theatre with 4 comfy armchairs here, no – this is a 70 seat, underground IMAX theatre.
The building that was approved to be built was 15,000-square-feet with a height limit of 36-feet, of which the Starship is double. Hadid contests that “it’s all in how you measure it”.
Although the charges are only misdemeanours, with a possible $1000 fine which wouldn’t even cover one of his meals at Il Pastaio, there is a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
Although concerned neighbours are calling for the house, which has been in construction for five years, to be demolished, Hadid is adamant that won’t happen.
“Demolish this house? Never! That would really cause problems: the trucks, the dirt, the dust, the noise, the hauling. It could take years. That would be insane,” he told Town & Country.
“This house will last forever. Bel-Air will fall before this will.”
The 68-year-old didn’t attend court on Tuesday, instead represented by his attorney Robert Shapiro, who you may remember from the OJ Simpson “dream team”.
Shapiro requested more time for Hadid to resolve the issues with the city building department in an attempt to avoid going to trial.
The former-refugee reacted to the charges in the most LA way I can imagine – by posting a passive aggressive Instagram where he quoted himself.
