Mark NeJame in the News
Orlando's Club Paris Nightclub Founder Posts Bail in Probation Violation
Over Rape Charge
Testimony from a guard and a cab driver cast doubt
on a rape allegation, 'Fred' Khalilian's lawyer says.
By Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 20, 2007
Two surprise witnesses helped the founder of Orlando's Club Paris persuade a judge Monday to let him post $10,000 for bail on a charge of violating probation with his recent arrest on rape charges.
Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian, 35, spent the weekend in jail after he was re-arrested Friday because of accusations that he raped a former employee of his new Church Street Station venture, Dolce Nightclub, violating his probation for beating a girlfriend two years ago.
Dolce Nightclub opened in September after Khalilian closed Club Paris last summer in a dispute with heiress Paris Hilton.
Khalilian is charged with rape and false imprisonment, crimes alleged to have taken place at his condominium overlooking Lake Eola early Nov. 9.
However, testimony by a security guard on duty that night at the Waverly on Lake Eola Condominiums and a taxi driver who drove the woman home raised doubts about her credibility, according to Khalilian's lawyer, Mark NeJame.
Both men said the woman appeared happy and content after spending 70 minutes in the nightclub owner's home. And a text message she sent afterward to Khalilian's cell phone asked him to send her some clothing and thanked him, NeJame said.
Khalilian was required while on bail to wear a GPS tracking device, abstain from drinking alcohol, and stay out of his nightclub between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., NeJame said.
Khalilian posted $6,000 for bail after his initial arrest last week on
rape charges.
