At one stage Dyldam had about 300 entities. Companies would collapse leaving substantial debts to tradies, suppliers, financiers and the ATO.
But the profits had been moved elsewhere and, despite being a criminal offence under the Corporations Act, Hathway said liquidators of the collapsed companies were not given books, records or proper accounts, making it extraordinarily difficult to follow the money.
Joe Khattar with his wife Chahida, who was prosecuted for trying to run over a nephew in the Dyldam car park. Credit: Facebook
Dyldam’s merry-go-round of corporate collapses was like a game of whack-a-mole, Hathway said. “A head pops up, you hit it, and another one pops up. They just create more and more companies to deceive the system.”
Not only is “the brazenness of it staggering,” said Hathway, but the penalties for such behaviour are laughable.
Last December, Sam Fayad was prosecuted by the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), for failing to assist another liquidator and not providing books and records. He was fined a total of $6000.
However, what might bring the two families undone is the bitter feuding within.
Carol Khattar with her late husband George Khattar.
Sam Fayad, 64, and Joe Khattar, 75, no longer speak. Fayad is bankrupt while his wife Maria and Joe, her brother, are being pursued by their sister-in-law Carol and nieces Georgia and Alana for a $21 million debt.
When Joe and Maria’s brother, George Khattar, died aged 44 in 2010, he owned a quarter of the Dyldam empire, which he left to his widow Carol and their two daughters.
For years Joe and Maria, the executors of George’s estate, have thwarted their sister-in-law’s demand for her share.
As a result of an earlier court battle in 2016, it was agreed Carol would be paid by transferring 20 apartments from a development in Baulkham Hills. However, the company Hills Shoppingtown collapsed, leaving Carol empty-handed.
The Oatlands home of Joe and Chahida Khattar.Credit: Nikki Short
The Supreme Court later heard Sam Fayad had entered into complex loan agreements with related companies, which had left Hills Shoppingtown with what was described as “a crippling debt” of about $350 million. All of Sam’s controversial financing documents were signed by his wife Maria, the court heard.
Carol then launched further action against her husband’s siblings. For his part, Joe Khattar launched a cross-claim against Sam Fayad, blaming his brother-in-law for scuttling the deal.
In his 2022 judgment, Justice John Sackar said whatever Sam may have done, it did not absolve his wife or her brother of their debt to Carol. He ordered the siblings to pay Carol and her daughters the value of the apartments which he judged to be about $18 million.
Two years later, Carol Khattar is yet to receive a cent, with a subsequent judge saying “Joseph and Maria have frustrated attempts to enforce the judgment.” With interest accumulating on the debt, the pair now owes more than $21 million.
Sam and Maria Fayad’s nine-bedroom country retreat at Matcham, on the Central Coast.
Apart from the money they owe to their sister-in-law, Maria and Sam Fayad and Joe Khattar are also being chased by the ATO for debts of more than $40 million.
Sam Fayad has been bankrupted by a former business partner, hotelier and developer Michael Barakat.
Barakat’s company has recently launched bankruptcy action against Fayad’s sons, Remon and Fayad, while Carol Khattar has launched bankruptcy action against Joe Khattar which will return to court in August.
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Joe Khattar’s assets, which include multiple properties, are in the name of his wife Chahida who, in 2022, was found guilty and sentenced to a conditional release order for a year for trying to run over nephew Antini Khattar in the Dyldam car park.
Maria Fayad also has a substantial property portfolio, which includes a nine-bedroom country estate with a tennis court and swimming pool, which she purchased for $4 million in 2015.
The Khattar and Fayad families were contacted for comment.