Gigi Hadid and sister Bella’s billionaire father Mohamed could be JAILED for illegally building monstrous 30,000ft mega-mansion dubbed ‘the Starship Enterprise’
THE billionaire father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid could be JAILED after a judge ordered he must stand trial to face accusations he illegally built a mega-mansion in Bel Air.
Real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, 68, is facing charges of violating building regulations to create his sprawling home dubbed the "Starship Enterprise".
On Tuesday Judge Eric Harmon ordered Hadid to stand trial on May 30 after Los Angeles City lawyers said he had "thumbed his nose at the city... and his neighbours", reported.
He faces three charges of breaching building codes and refusing to comply with City orders to stop construction, the website reported. Each charge carries a $1,000 (£780) fine and/or six months' jail.
Nearby neighbours have long complained about the 30,000ft building Hadid has partially constructed in the super-wealthy Bel Air neighbourhood.
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The property - featuring underground bedrooms and an IMAX theatres - is as extravagant as Hadid himself.
The Palestinian-born real estate mogul is a leading Los Angeles property developer who found fame with his appearances on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Bella and Gigi's booming careers in modelling.
The row, ongoing since at least 2014, has been framed as a spat between the begrudging rich and super-rich - millionaires facing off against billionaires.
During this week's court hearing, Hadid's lawyer Robert Shapiro - who was famously part of the team that helped O.J. Simpson get acquitted - urged the trial to be delayed so Hadid could file new permits for the home. They claim this would bring the property in line with regulations.
reported in December 2015 that inspectors found "unsecured open excavations" at the site, despite it being in an "earthquake-induced landslide area", as well as numerous other unapproved features.
Among them were underground bedrooms and an IMAX theatre.
Others reports reveal it was built to TWICE its permitted height.
Neighbour Joe Horacek, a wealthy entertainment lawyer himself, told he was terrified the building could crash down the hill towards his home.
He said: "What he has built is so much higher and larger than what was permitted that the geological and engineering work undertaken beforehand were never designed to support something of this size.
"So there is a truly serious danger that it could fall or that part of the building could come down the hillside.
"The whole thing is just plain arrogance and total disregard for the law, the neighbours and our sanity."
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