A property investor sent a bag of manure to his business partner’s lawyers in a dispute over fraud allegations.
Simon Lyons and Farid Alizadeh launched Enstar Capital in London’s West End in 2004. They worked together for many years on developments said to have a total value of more than £100m.
However, Lyons fell into a dispute with Alizadeh and the third partner, Andrew Rahamim, after being accused of behaving badly towards colleagues, staff and clients.
The High Court heard this week that Lyons embarked on a “campaign of harassment” against Alizadeh and Rahamim, sending hundreds of abusive e-mails to them, their families, business contacts and religious leaders. Lyons was said to have branded Alizadeh as “useful as a pair of stale knickers” and accused him of “wanking all morning”, adding: “I could smoke joints for the next thousand years and I’d still be more effective than this clown.” In another message, the chief executive said: “My farts are more useful than this guy.”
He went on to accuse the pair of stealing company money and, as the dispute escalated, Lyons was said to have targeted their professional advisers. In one incident, he was said to have sent packages containing a shovel and a bag of manure to solicitors working on a family trust of which Alizadeh was a beneficiary.
A judge has now ruled that Lyons harassed both of his senior colleagues and has granted an injunction that bans him from pestering either man as well as Rahamim’s 70-year-old father, Michael.
One of the company’s marquee projects was the 2015 conversion of offices into a £20m development of luxury flats opposite the Royal Court of Justice – where the court case took place.
A full hearing into the business dispute is scheduled for a later date.
