Perth,
Western Australia
(Old Edition)
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Sex, lies and real estate
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Michael Mavaddat duped his lover and her husband into paying $133,000 over the asking price for a property on Hay Street, Subiaco, and pocketed the money. The Applecross-based real estate agent said he acted out of character because he claimed he had a secret, intense and passionate relationship with Angela Lee, the wife of a wealthy Chinese businessman. He said he was stressed because he was scared his wife and Mr Lee, who lived in Hong Kong, would find out. But he was having sex with his secretary at the same time and used $60,000 from a company set up with Ms Lee to take his secretary to China. Angela Lee (53), a former air hostess and kindergarten teacher, told a court she was not Mavaddat's lover but he asked her to marry him. Mr Mavaddat (52) said Ms Lee was jealous of his secretary and they split after a row over a Persian rug. He said Ms Lee then complained about him. The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) heard it took Mr Mavaddat seven years to admit he had breached the Real Estate and Business Agents' Act. He claimed the $133,000 was commission but the disciplinary board ruled it was not and at almost 16% would have been excessive. In business correspondence and loan applications, Mr Mavaddat claimed he had a science degree from a university in the US. And he lied in a Supreme Court affidavit. Mr Mavaddat met the Lees in 1988 when he sold them a house in South Perth. He later got commissions from selling them other properties in Booragoon, Malaga and South Perth. Mr Mavaddat told the Supreme Court he first has sex with Ms Lee soon after the couple bought the first house. He said she asked him to show her around a house across the road that was for sale. After that they met regularly, sometimes daily, and had sex. He said the affair lasted 10 years with a break for about two years in the 1990s. Ms Lee denied it and said she had asked him for advice about investing money. He had set up a property development partnership with Ms Lee and borrowed about $1.6 million, according to court records, which describe Ms Lee as having a poor understanding of spoken and written English and limited experience in business. She wanted to open a beauty salon in the Hay Street building. Justice Len Roberts-Smith branded Mr Mavaddat a liar and said: "He had demonstrated himself to be deceitful and to manipulate others almost as a matter of course. "One could have no confidence that what he told other people about anything was true." Mr Mavaddat got his accountant to draw up tax returns claiming money he had borrowed was income and used the returns to borrow more money. Mr Mavaddat told the real estate industry disciplinary board that Ms Lee had the whip hand emotionally and he was under stress. A psychiatrist who examined him said he did not have any psychiatric disorder, but had the sort of personality common in salespeople. The tribunal heard Mr Mavaddat told the psychiatrist he was sleeping with Ms Lee, his secretary and his wife but did not mention at the time of the Subiaco deal the bank was bouncing cheques and he had financial trouble. Mr Mavaddat called a lawyer, a property developer, a real estate agent and a settlement agent as character witnesses when he appealed to the SAT last month not to take away his licence. The tribunal heard most of them took his word for it when he blamed his lawyer and said the Supreme Court got it wrong when it ordered him to repay money to the Lees. All but one of the character witnesses said they had not read the court judgement. Judge John Chaney, deputy-president of the SAT, confirmed the decision by the Real Estate and Business Agents' Supervisory Board to revoke Mavaddat's licence for life and fined him $1000
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