Tracking the Bogus Dodi
Escaped Patient
Tracking the Bogus Dodi
Al-Fayed Impersonator Goes on the Run
May 22, 2000
By Maryam Henein
Maryam Henein/APBnews.com
Mohamed Yehia Sead
TORONTO (APBnews.com) -- A convicted Egyptian con artist who befriended and
defrauded rock musicians and athletes while posing both as Mohamed al-Fayed,
owner of Harrods department store in London, and al-Fayed's playboy son, Dodi,
has disappeared, violating his parole in Canada.
Mohamed Yehia Sead has been convicted of fraud several times. Some of those who
befriended him when they thought he was a member of the al-Fayed family say he
spent thousands of dollars on his impersonations and seemed driven by more than
a desire for profit.
Yehia Sead finally got a good look at Dodi al-Fayed in a Toronto courtroom in
1997. Dodi al-Fayed, a few months away from his doomed romance with Princess
Diana, was the star prosecution witness at Yehia Sead's trial.
'Mo' partied with rock stars
AP
The real Dodi al-Fayed
Photographer Dennis O'Regan got to know Yehia Sead when he was posing as the
senior al-Fayed and calling himself "Mo" during Duran Duran's 1988 tour of the
United States. Mo traveled with the group for weeks, parting tearfully from
them in Atlanta.
In a court affidavit, O'Regan said that Mo cried "I love you. I love you. I've
had the best time of my life."
"Our backing band really loved him," said keyboardist Nick Rhodes. "He showed
them a great time."
Some former friends suggest that Yehia Sead's fascination with the al-Fayeds
springs from his relationship with his own father, who died when he was 22.
Yehia Sead, in conversations under many aliases, would complain that he had
been an unloved son.
Canadian authorities are not sympathetic.
"We want his ass back in jail," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Mark
Abernethy said in a recent interview with APBnews.com. "There's a Canada-wide
warrant for his arrest, and, if he's ever caught, Yehia will be required to
serve the remainder of his sentence, plus he'll be convicted for breaching his
parole."
25 aliases
Yehia Sead has used more than 25 aliases, posing as a Saudi Prince and a
professional soccer player. But Dodi al-Fayed was his favorite.
Before his death in 1997, Dodi al-Fayed was known in Hollywood as the producer
of the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire and two box-office disasters, Hook and
The Scarlet Letter. But his name and face meant little to the public and the
news media.
Life with father
AP
The real Dodi al-Fayed with Princess Diana
Yehia Sead was born on July 25, 1949, in Alexandria, Egypt. According to his
half-nephew, Hussein El Said, Yehia Sead's father, Mohamed El Said, was a
wealthy landowner with four wives and 14 children.
Yehia Sead felt neglected, Hussein El Said said in a phone interview from
Egypt.
"You can't expect much care from your father when he's 75," El Said said.
After his father died, Yehia Sead left Egypt. He visited the United States at
least twice in the 1970s.
In 1982, he settled in Vancouver and got married, becoming a Canadian citizen.
He also became a nightclub regular with the nickname Ya-Ya.
"Everybody knew him," recalls John Teti, owner of Richards on Richards Cabaret.
"But I eventually barred him from my club. He just gave me a bad vibe, the way
he tossed his money around and made demands."
'A sleazy land shark'
Waitress Valerie Fox described him as a "sleazy land shark" who claimed he had
been a professional soccer player in Egypt.
Relatives say that Yehia Sead returned home when his mother died in 1985 and
sold some land he'd inherited from his father. Back in Canada, Yehia Sead and
his wife divorced, and in 1988, he headed south.
He was jailed briefly in California on fraud charges. On Oct. 18, he surfaced
in San Francisco with a new identity.
On the road with Duran Duran
Duran Duran was staying at the Portman Hotel. Yehia Sead, "dripping in
jewelry," sent the group a bottle of champagne, O'Regan would later tell a
British tabloid. Yehia Sead approached singer Simon Le Bon, introducing himself
as Mohamed al-Fayed, who had recently taken over Harrods for $917 million. Then
he joined them on the tour.
At the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles, Yehia Sead threw a lavish party,
providing a belly dancer who snaked up and down Le Bon's body. In Atlanta,
Yehia Sead ordered bottles of champagne in a Creole restaurant, O'Regan later
said in a court affidavit. But he never paid the tab, which was later covered
by Duran Duran's accountants.
AP
The real Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi's father and Harrod's magnate
"He was living on credit himself," Le Bon told APBnews.com. "He threw parties
for us in hotels. With belly dancers. It was amazing. He gave us a really great
time. He disappeared for a while ... then someone contacted us who was
investigating some fraud case. He certainly gave a lot of people a lot of
pleasure."
Sending Harrods the bills
O'Regan sent photographs to Harrods with a friendly note addressed to "Mo." One
shot showed Yehia Sead in a silk bomber jacket with the words "Duran
Duran-MoBaby" on the back.
When O'Regan failed to get a reply, he called Harrods, hoping to talk to his
friend al-Fayed. The security department informed him that al-Fayed had never
heard of Duran Duran and was never called Mo.
Bills began arriving at Harrods. Al-Fayed ordered an inquiry that ended up
costing at least $20,000.
Yehia Sead moved to Orlando, Fla., in 1990, this time impersonating Dodi
al-Fayed. He found one close friend, Mohamed Khaled, the owner of an upscale
men's clothing store.
Khaled noticed that Yehia Sead was often depressed. Yehia Sead confided that
his mother was a housemaid who had died young and that al-Fayed had never
acknowledged him as his son.
Found out by Disney chief
The false Dodi al-Fayed knew how to party. Mark Magic, owner of the nightclub
JJ Whispers, remembers Yehia Sead arriving at sundown in a white stretch
limousine.
Disney chairman Michael Eisner was Yehia Sead's nemesis, recalled Magic. Eisner
knew Dodi al-Fayed and was not deceived by the man he spotted lounging with
former New York Mets player Keith Hernandez at one of the Disney hotels.
Yehia Sead was soon arrested after Eisner called Harrods in London. Yehia Sead
told reporters that al-Fayed was out to get him. He was sentenced to three
years for fraud. In a 1991 settlement, Yehia Sead agreed to cease impersonating
members of the al-Fayed family. The stipulation, valid only in Florida,
required a $50,000 penalty for any violation.
When Yehia Sead was released, Khaled paid his fare to Canada, where Yehia Sead
was eventually charged with fraud in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver.
'Royal treatment'
Corbis
Duran Duran
Yehia Sead arrived in Toronto in October 1994 impersonating Dodi al-Fayed
again. He became well known in the city's Egyptian community and was introduced
to the Egyptian ambassador to Canada and the brother of late Egyptian leader
Gamel Abdel Nasser.
Alaa Eltaher, editor of a Toronto newspaper for the Egyptian community, later
testified that Yehia Sead received "royal treatment wherever he went." Eltaher
published an article about the false Dodi al-Fayed, saying he was working on
movie plans.
"Dodi hates nothing more than hypocrites, the malicious, and those who spread
rumors," the article ended.
Yehia Sead became a regular backstage at the theater where Phantom of the Opera
was playing. He became so friendly with Ciaran Sheehan, who had the title role,
that Sheehan invited him to his New Jersey home.
'A very interesting case'
During one visit to New Jersey, Yehia Sead was admitted to a hospital emergency
room after complaining of strokelike symptoms. It was there that he met a
psychiatrist, Dr. Nabil El-Rafei, who became a friend.
El-Rafei believes that Yehia Sead exhibits traits common to dramatic-erratic
personality disorders and that his stroke symptoms were psychosomatic.
"He's a very interesting case to study," El-Rafei told APBnews.com. "He was
very needy, emotionally and family-wise. He was crying, sounding very genuine
about the suffering and humiliation he'd felt because of his father."
El-Rafei said that Yehia Sead appeared to both admire and despise al-Fayed.
Yehia Sead's lies caught up with him after 18 months when a business associate
complained to al-Fayed's staff in London about the false Dodi al-Fayed's
behavior.
Lying low in the Yukon
After the Toronto Sun ran a story detailing the impersonations, Yehia Sead left
Toronto in May 1996 in a Cadillac rented by a travel agent he had been dating.
His next stop was the Yukon.
Keeping a low profile, Yehia Sead claimed to be a doctor, telling an
18-year-old waitress in a Whitehorse lounge that he had given up medicine for
photography.
"He said he knew all the right people in Hollywood," the waitress told
APBnews.com.
Yehia Sead persuaded the young woman to pose, sometimes in the nude, for
photographs, and cried about his manipulative and neglectful father.
Yehia Sead's props
From Whitehorse, Yehia Sead went back east to Montreal, and once again he found
a friend who could give him legitimacy. Peter Bahlawanian, a fledgling director
and the owner of a music store that specializes in Middle Eastern music, played
that part.
Yehia Sead strolled into Bahlawanian's store, saying he was Dodi al-Fayed and
that he was working on a "secret project" for the National Film Board of
Canada. The following day, the two men dined at Costas, an expensive
Mediterranean seafood restaurant.
Bahlawanian enjoyed his new friend's company and hoped the relationship would
help his career. His suspicions were lulled by Yehia Sead's props.
Posters of movies financed by the real Dodi al-Fayed hung in Yehia Sead's
living room. A box with a gold nameplate was filled with screenplays and
provocative pictures of women. Yehia Sead owned Armani suits, a $4,000 camera
and a Rolex watch and smoked exquisite cigars.
Yehia Sead paid his round-the-clock bodyguards an extra $100 a day to
coordinate appointments and book reservations. They carried his daily planner,
cellular phone and up to $3,000 in cash.
He claimed his father, al-Fayed, gave him $40,000 a month -- less than half the
real Dodi al-Fayed's reported allowance. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were
never able to trace the source of the money Yehia Sead threw around.
In two months, Yehia Sead spent approximately $20,000 entertaining his Montreal
buddies.
Luck runs out again
At clubs, Yehia Sead's high spending attracted pretty women half his age. He
instructed his bodyguards to remind his dates of their luck.
But Bahlawanian listened to his friend crying and claiming his father was "out
to get him." Yehia Sead's bouts of depression continued, and Bahlawanian said
he saw him using the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
Bahlawanian eventually became suspicious. On a trip to Los Angeles, Bahlawanian
began remembering inconsistencies in Yehia Sead's stories and asked a friend to
find some information. Soon, Bahlawanian received an article from the Toronto
Sun, "Pharaoh of Fraud."
"The sympathy disappeared and the anger set in. I especially didn't want him
near my family," Bahlawanian said.
He contacted al-Fayed's security chief, and Yehia Sead was arrested in Montreal
on Oct. 30, 1996. He was escorted back to Toronto for trial.
"The al-Fayed family is setting me up, don't you see, they buy people with
their money. I am not out to cheat or con people. I am innocent, and I have a
very strong case," Sead said in a 1997 interview with APBnews.com conducted
from his jail cell as he awaited trial.
After his conviction, Yehia Sead was sentenced to two years and a day in
prison, in addition to the eight months he already had spent in jail awaiting
trial.
Yehia Sead served one-fourth of his sentence and was given accelerated parole
on Dec. 16, 1997. A condition of his parole, which was slated to end June 15,
1999, was that he live in a designated halfway house, where he could be
supervised before his full release.
But sometime in the summer of 1998, Yehia Sead slipped away.
Relatives confirmed that he'd briefly stopped in Egypt to sell some land. But
then he vanished without telling them where he was going.
Yehia Sead hasn't been seen since -- not as himself, at least.
janniha...@gmail.com
OMG, I had all but forgotten this guy. I knew him well.
Back ground, I was living in New Jersey back around 1994. And this guy showed up in a flashy Porsche 993/911.
He was courteous and friendly. Now, I had no money, but our mutual fondness for cars meant that we quickly became friends.
Over a period of one month, he lived at the Fort Lee Hilton, in NJ and he and I went out quite often. He was stylish had money, and always introduced himself as Dodi Al Fayed.
We ate many a dinner in some of the best restaurants in Manhattan, and on occasion he insisted that I should pretend to be his body guard, (I was you tall and handsome), and as a spoof he several times pretended to be my driver.
He had an absurd fondness of strip clubs in particular (SCORES), and was as I mention earlier very friendly and always courteous and a big tipper.
I subsequently left NJ and went home to Scandinavia.
One month later I received a call from "Dodi", he said that he had moved to Montreal, and asked if I wanted to come and visit, all expenses paid, including the flight..
I jumped at the opportunity and showed up the Montreal airport, where his driver picked me up.
We had an amazing time, and visited so many reat restaurants, bar and oce again strip clubs. I never had to pay, and all was fun and great. He was known as Dodi in the community, and was shown much respect. But..... It all changed... The money that I had paid for the ticket he gave me open arrival, I think that it was around 1000 USD, and going on the 5th day, he asked if he could borrow it back.., Thought nothing of it, so I gave him the cash. I got it back again the next day, once the ATM once again would let him withdrawal his daily allowance. He proclaimed that ”his father" had given him a limit on the credit card. After the fifth time that he had to borrow the money back, just spend it on strippers, Black Jack and slot machines I thought it strange, and actually mentioned it to him.
Now that triggered a completely different side of "Dodi". He became super suspicious, and accused med no not being grateful ect ect, and asked me if his father had sent him.. Reason supposedly being that his father wanted to assassinate him..
He eventually calmed down. Now I was stuck, my return ticket was 2 weens later, so I had to tough it out, despite my fear of what I now realised was an unstable man. Not that I was affraid of him. He was a short, semi bald and fat.. but still,... Anyway I wanted to se the country, so we rented a car a drove to Niagara Falls, where he once again knew a lot of people. By now I was really tired of strip clubs, and listing to the same story about “Chariot of Fires” and his new movies plans. And he got more and more annoyed that women we encountered would rather talk to me than him, despite the fact that I did not tip nor pay for lap dances... I had by now realized that he must have had some mental problem, but I still believed that he was the real Dodi. Anyway, on the way back from Niagara Falls he made me contact one of the cast members from the TV show "Dallas". I meet up with her and she handed me some of his personal belongings. But not before she asked me if he was nearby, and then proceeded warmed me of him.. Now I could go on and on, there were so many more crazy moments and experiences with this guy, I was there for 3 weeks, felt like 5 months since the guy never slept. He took bunch photos of me and the surroundings and various sites, but would never let me take one of him... But I actually did... It is from the trip to Niagara Falls, where we had dinner with 2 very nice young girls (not strippers on this occasion) ... I would be happy to post it, but do not know the legal issues sounding that matter...
Anyway, just wanted to share... I never lost a dime, and had a great and different vacation with a person whom I was totally sure was Dodi, but also totally sure that he a really sever case of schizophrenia and mentally illness...
Imagine my surprise where a picture of the "real Dodi" appeared in a local newspaper after the tragedy...
Ceers
Nour Ellababidi
Gregory Carr
Justice for George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau, Ian Bush, Myles Gray, Eurie Martin, Clive Mensah, Allain Lebreton, Huseyin Celil (political prisoner in China)