Who's Insulted?

The front page story in today's 7Days carries the banner headline 'The Final Insult'. The story concerns pardoned drug-offender Dallas Austin who, it seems, owes his Bahraini and Emirati advocates $440,000 for getting him off. It's a tragic story, a real heartbreaker.

"...last night his UAE legal team slammed the celebrity, saying they have barely received a dirham."

But they have been paid $40,000, which works out at quite a bit more than 'barely a dirham' (146,922 of the little blighters in fact). Now these hot-shot lawyers claim the deal is worth $440,000, and they want the rest of the money. There's a small problem, though. There is no written contract between the hot-shot advocates and their client. Not to be deterred, Al-Reda says there is an email that mentions the amount and the method of payment, and he reckons that emails are admissible as evidence. Yeah, right, it's impossible to fake an email. He plans to file a case in Dubai if payment is not forthcoming.

“'We were sure that this money is not too much for a celebrity like Dallas,' he added."

Just for the record, in case you ever need a local lawyer, the names are Mohammed Al-Reda (UAE) and Qais Al-Zubel (Bahrain).

File under: priceless: you couldn't make it up.