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Documents say Oasis Enterprises filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February
By Sally Voth - svoth@nvdaily.com
FRONT ROYAL - The flashy lifestyle of Warren County's local White House party crasher, Tareq Salahi, is revealed in numerous court filings.
And, it turns out the exorbitantly expensive designer watch he turned over in Warren County General District Court to satisfy a lawn-mowing debt last week is a fake.
Salahi, a graduate of Randolph-Macon Academy, and his wife, Michaele, gained notoriety last month when they made their way into a White House state dinner despite not having invitations.
A scrutiny of local, regional and federal court records shows the couple are no strangers to the legal system.
In February, Oasis Enterprises Inc., also known as Oasis Winery, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria. Salahi is listed as the corporation's president.
According to the filing, Oasis Enterprises, located at 14141 Hume Road in Hume, earned $1.7 million -- before operating expenses -- in 2007, but only $35,000 the following year. Court records say that Oasis Enterprises has $537,925 in assets and $982,003 in liabilities.
Filings also depict debts related to jet-setting extravagances. Last year, an Aston Martin valued at $150,000 was repossessed, as was a $90,000 boat, according to the bankruptcy filing.
Besides tens of thousands of dollars' worth of credit card debt, Oasis Enterprises owes $85,000 on a repossessed vehicle and $56,239 for the repossessed boat; more than $100,000 in legal fees; more than $13,000 for security services for a polo match, fashion show and cooking competition; and $25,000 for airline mileage program fees, according to the filing.
The corporation is disputing several debts, including $304,920 to Salamander Middleburg LLC for catering, $7,355 for limousine services and $25,006 for sound and lighting for an Americas Polo Cup production.
It says that Salahi's corporation has $50,000 worth of claims against Oasis
Vineyards Inc. for work done between 2005 and 2007.
Oasis Vineyards Inc., also at 14141 Hume Road, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last December. Corinne Salahi, the mother of Tereq Salahi, is listed as the president of Oasis Vineyards in that filing. On Wednesday, U.S. Trustee W. Clarkson McDown Jr. filed a motion to dismiss Oasis Vineyards' case, or convert it to Chapter 7, according to court records.
The motion says Corinne Salahi hadn't filed monthly operating reports on time, with the last one filed being for July. Also, she hasn't filed a reorganization plan and disclosure statement, and hasn't paid a quarterly fee, it says. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for Jan. 12.
According to its Web site, Oasis Winery will reopen in 2010.
Stephens City attorney Douglas W. Harold Jr. represents Oasis Enterprises in bankruptcy court. He said it is separate from Oasis Vineyards.
"My understanding is that the vineyards makes the wines and sells the wine," Harold said. "[Oasis Winery is] principally an event organizer."
In Warren County on Dec. 4, Salahi surrendered what was purported to be a Patek Philippe Geneve watch, which his attorney, David W. Silek, claimed was worth much more than the $2,063.35 he'd been ordered to pay Mike Dunbar for unpaid fees for cutting the grass at the Salahis' home just outside of Front Royal.
Since then, the Salahis have paid the judgment in full. However, according to an appraisal receipt from Jean's Jewelers in Front Royal, the watch was appraised by R.E. Jeweler's Watch and Clock in Chambersburg, Pa., and found to be an "imitation Patek Philippe" worth an estimated $100.
Salahi and his wife are parties -- sometimes as plaintiffs, at other times as defendants -- in several civil cases in Warren County, including four involving unpaid bills at Warren Memorial Hospital, two of which were dismissed and two of which were found in favor of the hospital, as well as a couple of other cases involving other unpaid bills.
A suit brought by Marlow Motor Co. for more than $4,000 in repair work was dismissed in March 2006, court records say. More recently, a Centreville limousine driver claimed the Salahis owed him $1,000 for unpaid work, but that case was non-suited Nov. 20, according to court records.
Salahi is scheduled to appear in court in April on a petty larceny charge stemming from an incident involving a vehicle-repossession employee.
In Fauquier County General District Court, the Salahis are named in several suits, most of which were dismissed or non-suited, according to court records. A case was found in Salahi's favor in Loudoun County, according to court records.
Salahi is scheduled to appear in Frederick County General District Court on Jan. 8 for a warrant in debt brought by Winchester Electrical Service, and the pair have a February hearing on a warrant in debt case brought by Rose Hill Veterinary Practice in Rappahannock County General District Court, according to court records.
Reached at home Thursday evening, Corinne Salahi said she didn't have any comment. Her son and daughter-in-law couldn't be reached for comment.
Staff writer M.K. Luther contributed to this story.
Lifestyles of the not-so-rich and wanna be famous.
How is it that these two continue to get away with the crap they pull? If anyone else would do this at the White House, they would be in jail.
They owe the State of Virginia taxes, they have written a bad check in Maryland for close to $ 20,000, they have judgements galore, yet they still walk around and act like they are all high and mighty.
It made me sick to see the Facebook site that Michaela has set up which is nothing but a brag fest on herself. Time for her to be knocked down a notch and serve some time in jail for all the people she has coned out of money.
From the outside, it appears to be high quality, expensive, and beautiful. But on the inside, it is a shoddy piece of garbage that could only deceive the shallowest of fools. Am I describing a fake watch, a mediocre "winery", or a failed socialite?
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