A high-flying Melbourne property mogul has broken down in tears as he learned he would spend the night behind bars, as he attempts to be granted bail while fighting extortion charges.
Police allege Paul Fridman, 50, engaged a shadowy overseas operator to threaten two former business partners, Ash Boyd and Nigel Givoni, to pay him more than $20 million.
Fridman allegedly promised the operator, known as “Mr International”, 10 per cent of any money extracted from the pair.
Police allege that in February this year that two victims received threatening messages demanding payments of $20 million and $250,000; the situation escalated on Saturday when a house in Glen Iris was firebombed with Molotov cocktails.
Fridman appeared by video link in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday night, where his lawyer argued he should be granted bail.
The property developer was arrested at his Caulfield North home on Monday morning, and the court heard police seized white powder believed to be cocaine. Detective senior constable Andrew Lauder said Fridman told officers he used cocaine to self-medicate his ADHD.
Lauder said after his arrest, Fridman stated he contacted Mr International and recruited him to “recoup monies he was owed”.
“He stated he made an agreement with Mr International that a 10 per cent fee would be retained for any monies recovered and given to [Fridman],” Lauder said.
Fridman has been charged with three counts of extortion, one of blackmail and one of possessing a drug of dependence.
Lauder told the court that threats against Boyd, a former partner of Fridman’s company Fridcorp, began after Boyd pulled out of a plan to develop a hotel and apartments in Queensland on February 20.
The court heard Boyd and Fridman had been planning to purchase a 50 per cent shareholding of the development from two other parties for about $5 million.
Lauder said later that evening, after rebuffing Fridman’s attempts to contact him, Boyd started receiving calls and messages from people and numbers he didn’t know.
Lauder said across the following days and weeks, the man leaving the messages said he would come around to Boyd’s house and threatened Boyd that “people have been shot over stuff like this”.
The man making the threats, who identified himself as Mr International and claimed Boyd owed him $250,000, started contacting Boyd’s wife over WhatsApp.
“I’m messaging you to get through to Ash, speak to him and get him to do the right thing. He’s ripped us off his shares that are worth millions and if he doesn’t get that signed over to me, I promise you I will make sure people get shot, houses get burned and people get kidnapped over this.”
The court heard a man of Middle Eastern appearance also delivered threatening messages into the mailbox at Boyd’s house.
Then just before 4am on Saturday, two Molotov cocktails were hurled at the house, according to Lauder. Boyd, his wife and children, aged three and five, were all sleeping inside at the time. Though they escaped uninjured, the house sustained moderate damage.
“It is nothing short of a miracle that no one was injured,” Lauder told the court. “Police believe the family is still at risk of further arson attacks.”
The court heard that just a few hours after the fire, Boyd received another WhatsApp message from Mr International: “Hey brother, have you changed your mind yet?” The court heard Mr International’s threats continued until Monday when Fridman was arrested.
Lauder said Boyd doesn’t believe he owes Fridman any money, and “if anything, the opposite is true”.
The second alleged victim, Nigel Givoni, was a business partner of Fridman’s for 20 years. Lauder said Givoni parted ways with Fridman after a business deal that Givoni disagreed with, and which eventually sent Fridman bankrupt.
The court heard Givoni stopped replying to Fridman’s messages in November 2023, but Fridman allegedly continued sending messages asking him for money. Lauder said Givoni received a WhatsApp call from Mr International on February 24 of this year.
Lauder said that after Givoni rejected the call, Mr International messaged: “I’m calling in regards to Paul, so get in contact with me before I send my boys to come pay you a visit,” and later “Alright, looks like I go about things my way. If it’s worth losing your life over, then by all means let’s go down that path.”
The court heard that after Givoni replied it was Fridman that owed him money, not the other way round, Mr International retorted: “I’ve seen everything, you owe him $20 million.”
A man of Middle Eastern appearance also attended Givoni’s house and spoke to his wife through the intercom, telling her “this will only get worse”. The court heard this man and Mr International are not the same person.
Police argued Fridman was an unacceptable risk of endangering the safety of others and of interfering with witnesses if he was bailed.
His lawyer, Morgan Brown, argued that because police had no evidence of messages between Fridman and Mr International, it couldn’t be said conclusively that Fridman had ordered the firebombing, nor that he was aware of everything Mr International had planned.
“I think that might be a little naïve, I’m not persuaded by that comment,” replied the magistrate. He said Mr International’s actions were “aimed at persuading these people to give your client lots of money”.
Brown then changed tack and argued Fridman has a prima facie case for bail, and that he is a father of two. She said while he had a prior criminal history, the charges weren’t relevant to the current allegations, and this would be his first time in custody.
The hearing will continue on Tuesday afternoon.
Fridman looked forlorn as the case progressed, but as he learned he would be remanded overnight, he began to sob loudly. The magistrate had his video link muted.
The court heard police continue to investigate the identity of Mr International.
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