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Megamansion developer Mohamed Hadid, who is accused of violating building codes in erecting a huge mansion in Bel Air, could be close to striking a deal with prosecutors.
The Beverly Hills Courier reports that Hadid’s attorney’s indicated that Hadid is close to entering a guilty plea, “with a few more conditions to still be worked out.” If those get hashed out, his attorneys say he would agree to do community service, pay a fine and—possibly—be banned from building in the city of Los Angeles for an undetermined amount of time.
(That would be a bummer for Hadid, considering he’s got an even bigger, 50,000-square-foot mansion in the works for Beverly Crest.)
Court records show Hadid faces one count each of building without proper permits, failure to bring a building into compliance, and refusing to comply with building codes in constructing a 30,000-square-foot hillside mansion at 901 Strada Vecchia.
The city revoked permits for Hadid’s not-yet-complete mansion, built on speculation, in 2014. It also ordered construction to stop, but the work continued. Inspectors with the city’s building and safety department reported finding numerous unapproved additions to the property, including two concrete decks, three large retaining walls, and a full story below the basement.
The misdemeanor charges, filed in July 2015, carry possible jail time, city attorney deputy chief Tina Hess told the Courier, but it looks like Hadid is trying to avoid that by reaching a plea deal. The newspaper also says Hadid and his attorneys might be delaying in order to give the developer time to bring the megamansion to code.
The unfinished Bel Air mansion has been extremely unpopular with some of its neighbors. One neighbor, Joe Horacek, has claimed that the construction on the mansion has caused mudslides into his backyard.
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