A Quebecer invested nearly $30 million in the largest house in Los Angeles and risks losing everything

A wealthy Quebec businessman risks losing the US$20.9 million he invested in the construction of the largest house ever built in Los Angeles.

This mega-house, called The One, was first offered at US$500 million. In 2021, when it was finally officially for sale, it was for US$295 million.

The company behind the project experienced significant financial difficulties. The house finally found a buyer at auction in 2022 for the sum of US$141 million according to the real estate agency, leaving many creditors of the project unpaid.

This is the case of the company of businessman Julien Rémillard, who invested nearly $30 million Canadian through his firm Inferno Investments.

In 2022, Inferno filed suit against a now-insolvent company called Crestlloyd LLC and other firms. The case has dragged on for two years before the courts, according to documents consulted by our Bureau of Investigation.

Rémillard’s company accuses, among other things, the firm behind the project of “incorrectly appropriating millions of dollars supposed to be used for the property for other properties and for the personal benefit of Nile Niami and [son ex-conjointe]».

Best friend

Niami, a real estate developer, had been Remillard’s best friend for decades, but the relationship reportedly deteriorated over financial problems related to the megahouse project.

Previous projects that Rémillard had partly financed had been successful, according to the Los Angeles Times. Niami notably sold in 2017 a new house for US$40 million to rapper P. Diddy and a renovated house for US$25 million in Beverly Hills to boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Niami grew up in a modest environment in North Hollywood, before trying his luck at the end of high school in cinema and then in real estate.

Money problems

In 2018, Niami ran out of money to complete the house and turned to the firm of a California billionaire, Don Hankey, who made his fortune providing auto loans for clients with problematic credit.

According to the lawsuit, a document in which Rémillard’s firm ceded its rank of creditors even included a forged signature from Rémillard.

Inferno alleges that Hankey’s firm, which advanced US$82.5 million in the project, “would have unscrupulous and unfair predatory practices, including a scheme to ensure interest payments […] exorbitant and potentially usurp a valuable asset while leaving other creditors in the lurch.

WHO IS JULIEN RÉMILLARD?

• Son of Lucien Rémillard who made his fortune in waste management in Quebec
• Was co-owner of the TV channel V with his brother Maxime
• Based in the Bahamas, according to his LinkedIn account
• In Quebec, president of Evirum, a firm active in the brokerage of residual materials

A SPECTACULAR HOUSE

• 21 bedrooms and 42 bathrooms
• Cellar of 10,000 bottles
• Includes gym, spa, beauty salon, bowling alley, cinema, night club
• Garage for 50 cars
• Five swimming pools
• Its construction lasted around ten years.