A dodgy car dealer who received a lifetime ban from the industry was caught on camera attacking an A Current Affair news crew after they accused him of operating out of another car depot.
Mezin Hadad has been permanently disqualified from holding a car dealership license in Queensland and, along with his company Best Buy Auto Group Pty Ltd, fined a total of $127,000.
It was banned after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) took disciplinary action against the car dealer and his company in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).
Mr. Hadad was found to have provided false or misleading information to consumers, harassed and coerced customers, and failed to repair consumers’ defective second-hand cars under warranty.
He also did not provide clients with important documents and contracts, such as the declaration of ownership.
Mezin Hadad has been permanently disqualified from holding a car dealership license in Queensland and, along with his company Best Buy Auto Group Pty Ltd, fined a total of $127,000. He got into a physical confrontation with a news crew from A Current Affair.
The Channel Nine show initially ran a story about Mr Hadad’s sleazy business in which he refused to speak, but after watching the show he emailed to say he was ready to do an interview at any time and called reporter Reece D’Alessandro a “loser.”
But things got physical when the TV crew turned up at Fair Dinkum Autos in Clontarf, north-east of Brisbane.
Hadad refused to answer questions and instead threw folders and documents at the journalist.
He also repeatedly shoved D’Alessandro and his crew and even threw a punch at the cameraman.
As D’Alessandro was finishing the segment, Mr. Hadad poured a can of V energy drink over his head.
The confrontation escalated after D’Alessandro questioned Mr. Hadad about why he was at the dealership if he had been banned from the industry.
A spokesperson for Clontarf car depot told Daily Mail Australia that Hadad was not an employee but sometimes visited because his family ran the business.
‘It’s his family’s business. He comes here, waters the plants and chats with people. “He doesn’t work here and he doesn’t get paid,” he said.
A fight immediately broke out when the Channel Nine crew arrived, with Hadad refusing to be filmed and repeatedly shoving the cameraman.
“You’re not going to air it, you’re fucking trash,” he told the journalist.
“You’re a piece of shit, you’re a larva and you’re not going to vent it because you’re a liar, you’re only going to vent what you want to vent.”
Hadad repeatedly shoved the camera crew when they appeared in a car yard where he was located.
Hadad then asked to sit down and talk, but only if the cameras weren’t rolling.
He pushed the cameraman again and the pair became caught in a fight and Mr Hadad appeared to throw his fist at the other man’s face.
While the journalist repeatedly asked Mr. Hadad whether he was breaking the law or not, he refused to answer and instead suggested that they sit down and talk.
When D’Alessandro and Hadad finally sat down for the interview, it lasted a few seconds.
—Are you Australia’s most dubious used car salesman? the ACA journalist asked, to which Hadad immediately denied that he was.
‘No, I’ve been a car salesman for 34 years, if I were, how would I have been a car salesman for 34 years?’ Answer that!’ he said.
Hadad then grabbed the documents from his desk and threw them at D’Alessandro’s head, before pushing him out of the room and down a hallway.
Mr. Hadad chased the television crew out of the dealership while throwing a can of energy drink over the journalist’s head.
Hadad had previously shared a video of himself on YouTube in 2019 flaunting his luxury yacht and holding what appears to be a novelty gun.
He was banned from the Queensland motor industry in January this year after an investigation found he and his company committed multiple breaches of the Motor Dealers Act and Australian consumer law.
Hadad was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $67,607 to affected customers, while his company Best Buy Auto was fined $50,000.
He was heard in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with findings handed down in December last year.
He stated that the breakdown of his marriage to his wife had been “emotionally and financially draining”.
He also claimed to have attempted to take his own life on five separate occasions between 2018 and 2021 and to have been admitted to a mental health ward in Queensland.
The court said that “Mr. Hadad has not presented any medical or other evidence to support these allegations.”
“Mr. Hadad stated that in a span of two years he literally went from being a tycoon to a mental health patient and attempted to take his life, his entire life was in ruins and he had lost his house after the mortgage came into possession.” . the document read.
The car dealership was deemed unfit to hold a license.
Hadad had previously shared a video of himself on YouTube in 2019 flaunting his luxury yacht and holding what appears to be a novelty weapon.
It is understood that Fair Dinkum Autos referred questions to him about Mr Hadad’s presence at the car yard, but no response was received.