Queensland used car dealer Mezin Hadad attacks ACA reporter and crew after requesting interview to clear his name

A dodgy car dealer who received a lifetime ban from the industry has been caught on camera attacking an A Current Affair news crew after he was accused of operating out of another car yard.

Mezin Hadad has been permanently disqualified from holding a motor dealer licence in Queensland and, along with his company Best Buy Auto Group Pty Ltd, was fined a total of $127,000.

He 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, had harassed and coerced customers, and failed to repair consumers’ faulty second-hand cars under warranty.

He also failed to give customers important documents and contracts such as statement of ownership.

The Channel Nine program initially ran a story on Mr Hadad’s shonky business where he declined to speak, but after seeing the program he emailed to say he was ready to do an interview anytime and called reporter Reece D’Alessandro a ‘loser’.

But things turned physical when the TV crew showed up at Fair Dinkum Autos in Clontarf, northeast of Brisbane.

Mr Hadad refused to answer any questions and instead threw folders and documents at the reporter.

He also repeatedly shoved D’Alessandro and his crew and even threw a punch towards the cameraman.

As D’Alessandro was wrapping up the segment, Mr Hadad poured a can of V energy drink over his head.

The confrontation escalated after D’Alessandro probed Mr Hadad on why he was at the dealership if he’d been banned from the industry.

A spokesperson for the Clontarf car yard told Daily Mail Australia Mr Hadad was not an employee but sometimes visited because his family ran the business.

‘It’s his family’s business. He comes here and waters the plants and chats to people. He doesn’t work here and he doesn’t get paid,’ she said.

A scuffle broke out immediately when the Channel Nine crew arrived, with Mr Hadad refusing to be filmed and repeatedly shoving the cameraman.

‘You’re not going to air it, you’re a f***ing grub,’ he told the reporter.

‘You’re a piece of s***, you’re a grub, and you’re not going to air it because you’re a liar, you’re only going to air what you want to air.’

Mr Hadad repeatedly shoved the camera crew when they turned up at a car yard he was in

Mr Hadad then asked to sit down and talk but only if the cameras weren’t rolling.

He again shoved the cameraman and the pair became caught in a struggle with Mr Hadad appearing to throw his fist into the other man’s face.

While the reporter repeatedly asked Mr Hadad whether or not he was breaking the law, he refused to answer and instead suggested they sit down and talk.

When D’Alessandro and Mr Hadad did eventually sit down for the interview, it lasted a matter of seconds.

‘Are you Australia’s dodgiest used car dealer?’ the ACA reporter asked, to which Mr Hadad immediately denied he was.

‘No, I’ve been a car dealer for 34 years, if I was, how would I have been a car dealer for 34 years? Answer that!’ he said.

Mr Hadad then grabbed the documents on his desk and threw them at D’Alessandro’s head, before shoving him out of the room and down a walkway.

Mr Hadad chased the TV crew out of the dealership while dumping a can of energy drink on the journalist’s head.

Mr 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.

Mr 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 subjected to a Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing, with the findings being handed down in December last year.

He claimed the breakdown of his marriage to his wife had been ’emotionally and financially draining’.

He also claimed to have tried to take his life on five separate occasions between 2018 and 2021, and had been admitted to a Queensland mental health ward.

The tribunal said ‘Mr Hadad has filed no medical or any other evidence to support these allegations’.

‘Mr Hadad stated that in a span of two years he literally went from a tycoon to a mental health patient and attempted to take his life, his whole life was in ruins, and he had lost his house after the mortgage went into possession,’ the document read.

The car dealer was found not suitable to hold a licence.  

Mr 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.

It’s understood questions regarding Mr Hadad’s presence at the car yard were referred to him by Fair Dinkum Autos but no response was received.