Wealthy art dealer attacked lover in drunken row at £4m f lat
THE son of a billionaire art dealer could face jail after he admitted banging his girlfriend’s head against a wall in a drunken row at his multi-million-pound apartment.
Joseph Nahmad, whose family is said to have the largest stock of Impressionist and modern art in the world, inflicted a ‘considerable beating’ on Georgia Barry at his London home in March.
The 31-year-old, who is a prominent art dealer in his own right, also attacked Miss Barry in another incident five months earlier.
He has now pleaded guilty to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
A crown court was told that both attacks took place at his £4million home in The Knightsbridge Apartments, just yards from Hyde Park and Harrods, after the couple had been drinking heavily.
Prosecutor John Fairhead said Miss Barry had also accused Nahmad of picking up a knife during the second attack.
She allegedly told police officers: ‘He picked up a knife and said: “Are you going to say sorry?” He threw it onto the counter.’
Nahmad denies the claim that he picked up a knife.
Outlining the case, Mr Fairhead told Southwark Crown Court: ‘This is in the context of a considerable beating – banging her head against a wall.
‘Both parties drank to excess and she on two occasions says she was tipsy.’ Nahmad pleaded not guilty to a third alleged attack at celebrity nightclub Tape London, Mayfair, and the charge was dropped by the prosecution.
Defence barrister William Clegg QC told the court: ‘There was an incident in a nightclub where a scratch and bruise were sustained. Very minor injuries.’
He added that Miss Barry had attempted to withdraw all three allegations against Nahmad.
In a statement to the court on Monday, the art dealer said: ‘She was in a consensual, loving relationship that at times became toxic.’
Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC bailed Nahmad until September 2 when he is due to be sentenced and could face a custodial term.
The defendant is the son of billionaire David Nahmad, who with his brothers Giuseppe and Ezra established the family as world-famous fine art dealers.
David and Ezra Nahmad have an art collection worth around £2.47billion. Their haul of Picassos alone, which contains more than 300 works by the Spanish master, tops £823million.
Joseph Nahmad followed in the footsteps of his Beirut-born father, uncles and cousin, who runs the Nahmad Contemporary gallery in New York.
He made his own waves in the art industry in 2016 with the launch of Nahmad Projects in Mayfair.
At the time, the young dealer promised to ‘bring a radical edge to Mayfair’s contemporary art scene’. He also once made the under-30s Forbes rich list.
Nahmad’s cousin Hillel, known as Helly, is, reported to be close friends with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
In March last year, Hillel was given a 366-day prison sentence for running an illegal high-stakes gambling business from his £17.2million home in New York’s Trump Tower.
But the charges of racketeering and money laundering were dropped as part of a plea agreement and Hillel agreed to forfeit more than £4million in cash.
The scandal made the front page of The New York Times.
The family’s empire was created by Joseph’s grandfather Giuseppe, whose love of Italian sports cars and beautiful women earned him the nickname ‘Joe Farouk’ after the opulent former King of Egypt.
‘Banging her head against a wall’