“Will wonders never cease?”, FORBES, September 4, 1989, Pg. 72. By Joe
Queenan
Grosvenor is a developer’s worst nightmare: a roving fruitcake armed
with just enough ammunition to be taken seriously by a journalist from
out of town. Identifying himself as a management consultant, though he
will not divulge which managements require his consultation, Grosvenor
incessantly bombards journalists all over the U.S. and Canada with
torrid innuendo about the Ghermezians’ connections, the sources of their
money and criminal investigations into their activities. Over the
years, he has mailed or faxed damaging newspaper articles about the
Ghermezians all around the world, while distributing stickers
proclaiming: “Edmonton = Ghermezianville. Don’t Invest Here. Don’t
Even Visit Here.”
Grosvenor does make occasional forays into sanity when he rattles off
verifiable facts about the Ghermezians’ financing problems (they
unsuccessfully attempted to repackage $ 486 million of their debt three
years ago). But this impression of lucidity evaporates when he starts
making dark suggestions about mysterious visits to Edmonton by Adnan
Khashoggi and Mario Cuomo, tosses in a few words about the Teamsters and
wraps it all up by insisting that Triple Five has “absolutely nothing to
do with the development of the Mall of America.” Gee, Bill, if that
wasn’t the Ghermezian brothers down there in Minnesota, who were those
four Iranian impostors?
Why does he do it? Grosvenor originally told FORBES that he had been
“swindled by Triple Five.” But in a more recent conversation, he said,
“They got several lots rezoned so they could build a lousy strip mall
next to my house.”
Now, Grosvenor is seeking assistance from Canada’s Legal Aid to
defend a $ 22 million libel suit from the brothers. The suit came after
Grosvenor was quoted extensively in an Apr. 14 article in the respected
German newspaper, Die Zeit, entitled “Money-Laundering or World Wonder?”
The article, replete with anti-Semitic comments by Grosvenor, was
published around the time West German authorities were reaching a
decision on a $ 6.3 billion mall project in Oberhausen, near Dusseldorf.
The deal withered, and the Ghermezians slapped Grosvenor with the libel
suit, simultaneously obtaining a gag order. But Grosvenor blabs on. A
lawyer he approached about defending him was clearly taken aback when
told that his possible client-to-be was still bad-mouthing the
Ghermezians to the press. “He’s going to end up in jail if this keeps
up,” the lawyer whistles.
