It was supposed to fetch a real sum, but it ended up selling last year at auction for the price of a relative destitute. Now, Beverly Hills Mountain is at the center of a new lawsuit seeking to recover more than $ 100 million in allegedly misappropriated funds.
The Justice Department filed seven lawsuits Thursday in the United States District Court in Los Angeles seeking the confiscation of real estate and other assets purchased with funds that the lawsuits said were misappropriated by former Ministry of Justice officials. Defense of Kuwait.
For the record:
3:04 PM PT, July 17, 2020An earlier version of this article said that Khaled al Sabah’s lawsuit also named the defendants’ attorney Victorino Noval, Ronald Richards; Noval’s ex-wife Hannah; and his son Jake. That lawsuit was dismissed and a subsequent lawsuit was filed that did not name Richards, Hannah Noval or Jake Noval as defendants.
US prosecutors say the funds were used to buy or contribute to the improvement of Mountain’s 157-acre property, as well as three houses in Beverly Hills, a private jet, sports cars, and boxing memorabilia from Manny Pacquiao, among others. stuff. The United States seeks to recover at least $ 104.38 million in laundered funds.
According to the lawsuits, three senior Defense Ministry officials opened six unauthorized bank accounts from 2009 to 2016 and used the accounts to facilitate the transfer of more than $ 100 million in Kuwaiti public funds to California bank accounts connected to the son. of a condemned. felon.
The offender is identified in the complaints as Victorino Noval, a Los Angeles-based businessman who was convicted in 2003 of mail fraud and tax evasion and later sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay $ 25 million in restitution.
Khaled al Sabah, a member of Kuwait’s ruling family who served as defense minister from 2013 to 2017, last year filed a $ 163 million lawsuit against a group of California businessmen that includes Noval and two of the sons of Noval, Victor Franco and Hunter.
In an email, Ronald Richards, an attorney for companies associated with the Novals, said the funds at the heart of the dispute were transferred nearly a decade ago and that the alien who made the transfer had been verified as a member of Kuwaiti royalty. . family.
“My client examined the person and confirmed his height,” said Richards. “Any irregularity related to funds transferred to the United States would be something that my client would have no way of knowing or shared with him. My client has no need or interest in withholding improperly distributed funds. “
Bobby Samini, an attorney for Al Sabah, said: “My client supports the claims alleged in the civil action filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court and upholds his claim that Mr. Noval and his associates defrauded him.
“My client denies doing anything wrong,” Samini said in the email statement. “Any suggestion that my client was involved in some illegal activity is incorrect. Mr. al-Sabah will continue his legal claims against Mr. Noval in civil action. “
Once listed for $ 1 billion, the 157-acre hill known as the Beverly Hills Mountain sold last year at auction for $ 100,000.
(Beth Coller)
Regarded as the city’s best underdeveloped land, the Mountain made international headlines in 2018 when it hit the market with the highest price in Los Angeles real estate history – $ 1 billion.
Although some called the ambitious listing a publicity stunt, the prized land offers more privacy and space than almost any other property in Southern California.
Located at the highest point in ZIP code 90210, it spans 157 acres, or about twice the size of Disneyland. It is distributed in 17 plots, six of which are divided into zones for residential development. Listing agent Aaron Kirman said at the time that the potential buyers he spoke to imagined everything from an ultra-exclusive home enclave to a Huntington Gardens-style oasis for a single buyer.
Despite the hype, no buyer materialized, and the price eventually dropped to $ 650 million. Developer Scott Gillen reportedly offered $ 400 million, but the seller turned it down.
At the time, it was owned by Atlanta investor Chip Dickens and his business partner, Victor Franco Noval, through a limited liability company called Secured Capital Partners. Dickens obtained the property in 2004 with a $ 45 million loan from the previous owner of the property, the estate of the late Herbalife founder Mark Hughes. Secured Capital Partners and Noval entered the scene around 2010, according to Dickens.
The $ 45 million debt finally skyrocketed to around $ 200 million, and the company tried and failed to file for bankruptcy last year. As a result, the Mountain was auctioned off in a poorly attended and unceremonious foreclosure auction behind a fountain in Pomona’s Civic Center Plaza.
Only one offer was made, and it came from Hughes’ estate for just $ 100,000. Upon repurchasing the property, the property lost the approximately $ 200 million owed to it, but eventually regained possession of the precious land after 15 years.
Like many properties in Los Angeles, the mountain has had a history of celebrities, tycoons, and royalty.
Princess Shams Pahlavi, the sister of the late Shah of Iran, once planned to build a luxurious palace on top of the mountain. It was later acquired by television presenter-turned-television producer Merv Griffin, who wanted to build a limestone and marble mansion on the site.
“We will have a heliport, a couple of lakes and a Palladian-style house, like the ones you see outside Venice [Italy] but with a variation, because we will need a lot of glass for the views, “Griffin said in a 1987 interview. However, the mansion was never built.
After falling into financial trouble, Griffin sold the top of the mountain for more than $ 8 million in 1997 to Hughes, in a deal that allegedly set a price record at the time for Southern California. Hughes died in 2000 at age 44.
Three other properties that were allegedly purchased with Kuwaiti funds are currently for sale, according to people not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
At the Remington building in Westwood, a penthouse owned by a corporate entity that lists Victor Franco Noval as its CEO is for sale at $ 14.85 million. The 5,118-square-foot penthouse, which was purchased in 2012 for $ 6.55 million, is listed on the Compass agent Kirman’s website.
On Marilyn Drive in Beverly Hills, a Mediterranean-inspired mansion linked to Victor Franco Noval is for sale for $ 13.9 million, according to a listing on the Altman Brothers website, a team with Douglas Elliman.
The property is also included separately as a lease for $ 58,000 a month; Coldwell Banker Realty’s Victor Noval is named as the registration agent. Noval also has a listing for a vacant lot on North Alta Drive that starts at $ 15.9 million.
