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 Welcome to
the News desk.
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| High stakes gambler must pay £2m debt |
01/03/2007 |
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Karen
McVeigh Thursday March 1, 2007
He is one of the world's biggest gamblers, who spent a remarkable
£91m in the course of 12 years playing the tables at one elite Mayfair
club. But yesterday the high-roller who goes by the nickname of The Fat Man was
ordered by a high court judge to settle an outstanding debt to Aspinalls Club
to the tune of £2m.
Fouad al-Zayat, a Syrian-born businessman, who
now lives in Cyprus, had a "penchant for gambling", said Mr Justice David Steel
in a ruling at the court. "The scale of both his wealth and his gambling
instincts are revealed by the fact that between October 1994 and April 2006 the
defendant visited the claimant's club on over 600 occasions, purchasing gaming
tokens to the value of over £91m and, in the process, losing over
£23m."
The case has offered a rare glimpse into the world of
"whales", or risk-takers in the gambling world who can afford to lose vast sums
at the turn of a card or the spin of a roulette wheel.
Mr Zayat's biggest loss at the club, where
membership costs £1,000, was £2m at one sitting on March 10 2000.
He wrote a cheque but when Aspinalls tried to cash it, it was dishonoured;
after a row with the croupiers at the club he had sent a fax to his bank
cancelling the cheque.
The judge said Mr Zayat had continued to gamble
at Aspinalls, losing a further £10m which he was asked to settle in cash
or debit card transactions. The gambling house took action "with great regret"
after the debt remained unsettled for nearly six years, the cut-off point for
the money to be legally claimed back. The club successfully applied for a
freezing order on his assets, which include a Boeing 747 and a £158,000
Rolls-Royce.
The club, founded in the 1960s by the private zoo owner
John Aspinall, who died in 2000, then asked the high court to rule that the
matter be settled without a trial as Mr Zayat had no chance of avoiding
payment.
The judge found in favour of the club and ordered Mr Zayat to
pay the £2m plus the legal costs.
It is not the first time Mr
Zayat has been sued over unpaid gambling debts. In March 2002 the Ritz Club
issued a writ against him for allegedly bouncing £2m cheques. Court
papers served on him at his apartment in the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane,
London, reveal how he gambled £21m at the Ritz in the four years he was a
member. He visited the place 156 times between 1999 and 2001, losing almost
£10m in cash. At the time Mr Zayat said: "This is the only sin I have. I
have lost a lot of money. I know it's wrong to lose money like this but if
you've ever been to a casino you will understand what the atmosphere is like."
James Osborne, the managing director of Aspinalls, said: "We waited six
years because he is a very important client. We have known him for years and he
is a respected member of the club. Unfortunately we have shareholders and we
couldn't allow it to go on."
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