- A man who once owned a Florida nightclub with Paris Hilton was arrested on a murder for hire charge.
- The ex-partner, Fereidoun Khalilian, was accused by feds of paying a bodyguard to kill a documentarian.
Paris Hilton's ex-business partner Fereidoun Khalilian, who once owned an Orlando club with the socialite, was arrested and accused of organizing the murder of a documentary filmmaker.
According to a criminal complaint, Khalilian, aka "Prince Fred," was arrested on June 22, 2023 on a murder for hire charge, accused by federal agents of paying a bodyguard $20,000 to kill a filmmaker he disliked. The arrest was the culmination of years of legal woes and accusations of fraud and two-faced dealings for Khalilian.
The plan was foiled after the bodyguard he is accused of hiring cooperated with the FBI and staged a murder scene with the videographer, leading to Khalilian's arrest in a Las Vegas Dunkin' Donuts, per The Daily Beast.
Lawyers for Khalilian and reps for Hilton did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The documentarian met Khalilian while working at a computer repair shop, fixing his laptop. Khalilian "wore expensive jewelry and claimed to be a billionaire," the unnamed victim told federal prosecutors, per the criminal complaint.
Six years later, in 2019, the pair ran into each other in Los Angeles, and the victim looked up Khalilian's name to find the businessman accused, and convicted, in numerous lawsuits.
One scheme included running an extended car warranty robocall operation that the FTC shut down for targeting elderly people, fining him $4 million, per the Daily Beast.
Khalilian's Orlando nightclub, Paris, opened in 2005 and was co-owned by Paris Hilton, but the club ultimately shuttered by 2007 after a fallout between the pair, per the Daily Beast.
Khalilian also faced and lost multiple lawsuits related to the battery and sexual assault of women who attended and worked at the nightclub — during a time period where he was also rubbing shoulders with A-list celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Usher, and Sylvester Stallone, per the Daily Beast.
In light of what he learned about Khalilian, the victim decided that he would work on a documentary about Khalilian and his fraudulent lifestyle, which included allegations that he ripped off Native American tribes in online poker software deals, per the complaint.
Without telling Khalilian the focus of the documentary, prosecutors said the victim was granted access to interview the jet setter and his inner clique, including bodyguards.
Khalilian had bodyguards "wear Secret Service pins and fake earpieces that were not connected to radios and tell people that Khalilian was a diplomat," prosecutors said in the complaint.
By March 2023, the relationship between the filmmaker and Khalilian had taken a downward turn, after Khalilian learned that the documentary was focused on his fraud and shady dealings.
A former bodyguard identified as "Michael" was contacted by Khalilian to kill the victim, according to the complaint. Michael began cooperating with the FBI and the victim when Khalilian made the ask, per the criminal complaint.
"Brother he is hurting all my shareholders tribes everything," Khalilian messaged Michael on March 9, 2023. On March 16, Khalilian texted Michael saying "I need this done," with a check mark emoji, offering $20,000 for the murder.
Michael and the victim met and staged the murder on March 17, 2023, sending Khalilian 67 staged photos. In return, Khalilian sent a series of payments to a Zelle account run by the FBI.
"For my guys," Khalilian wrote in the caption of one payment.