Billionaire suing Saudi businessman

Halifax billionaire John Risley is back in court, this time over allegations a Saudi businessman swindled his company out of $15 million.

In a lawsuit, CFFI Ventures Inc. — a holding company headed by Risley, the co-founder of Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. — claims Issam Alzahed committed “fraudulent misrepresentation” and “conspiracy.”

Court documents allege the Saudi national, who is also a Canadian citizen and has a large home in Halifax now listed for sale, positioned himself as a person of “great wealth and vast international business experience and influence.”

Risley, one of Canada’s richest people and a leading philanthropist, was introduced to Alzahed in January 2017, according to the documents filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Later that year, court filings claim Alzahed propositioned CFFI Ventures through Risley with an investment opportunity.

The alleged scheme involved an Austrian corporation known as TDE Group, which Alzahed claimed he purchased 50 per cent of for 60 million euros through a company he controlled within the Alzahid Group — a firm with extensive operations in oil and gas, construction and technology, of which he claimed to be a “principal and controlling mind.”

Court documents allege Alzahed proposed CFFI acquire half his shares in the Austrian firm — for a total stake of 25 per cent — and after a site visit to the corporation’s headquarters, the Nova Scotia company agreed.

In December 2017, a share purchase agreement between CFFI and Alzahed was signed, with the payment of 30 million euros to be paid in two tranches.

The company refused to transfer further funds, and Alzahed allegedly later admitted that he had never purchased or owned any shares in TDE Group — despite offering to sell shares to CFFI, the documents say.

CFFI is claiming that Alzahed’s business proposition was “knowingly fraudulent, false and misleading” and is seeking to recoup the 10 million euros paid.

The allegations have not been tested in court.