Monday, May 17, 2010

The plot thickens Teazers was up for sale and Lolly would have made a killing

Lolly Jackson was on the verge of selling his strip club empire for a staggering R90-million just weeks before his death

The 53-year-old had entered into a deal with Radovan Krejcir, a Johannesburg-based Czech billionaire currently fighting extradition in South African courts.

The deal, captured in a nine-page document, details the sale of the assets in the Teazers Group, which included R80-million for the Teazers and Teaz-hers assets and brands, and R10-million for other enterprises.

Jackson, who was gunned down at a house in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, on May 3, owned a chain of strip clubs in Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Midrand and Rivonia.

Krejcir, who has been friends with Jackson since 2007, has confirmed that he was in talks with Jackson over the sale.

"When Lolly approached me last month to sell his businesses, I asked him why he wanted to do this, as he was a one-man show ... Teazers was Lolly."

According to the document, Krejcir would pay an initial R1.4-million for a due diligence report on Jackon's businesses. The scope of the due diligence investigation was to include three years of financial statements; a foot-count test for door traffic at the clubs to determine revenue; and estimated revenue from bar and other food sales and table dances, private booths and private dances.

Sandton attorneys Alan Allschwang & Associates were to be appointed to prepare agreements for the deal.

Properties that Jackson was getting ready to sell included his double-storey Kloof Road, Bedfordview, mansion.

At the time of his death, Jackson was living with his wife Demi in up-market Beaulieu, Kyalami, north of Johannesburg, in a home he had acquired for about R10-million.

His widow last week confirmed to the Sunday Times that they were making preparations to leave South Africa.

"He wanted to sell the business to a very good friend," she said.

Jackson had recently been exposed in an alleged multimillion-rand money-laundering scheme that started when he wanted to buy the world's most expensive car, the Pagani Zonda, for R15-million.

His questionable business deals form part of an ongoing investigation by police and the SA Revenue Service.

In terms of the deal with Krejcir, Jackson was to have been employed by Teazers' new owner for a year.

The documents include a five-year restraint-of-trade clause, shutting him out of the adult entertainment industry.

Allschwang, who had acted for Jackson in several legal matters over the past few years, said: "Any mandate that I had was terminated upon his death. When an executor is appointed to his estate, he or she will be free to appoint anyone to act on behalf of Jackson's affairs. I cannot comment on any work done prior to his death."

On the night of the murder, Jackson and Smith had been drinking at a house in Kempton Park. The two argued and Jackson was shot and then dragged into the double garage of the house of supermarket owner, George Toumbis.

Police spokesman Colonel Eugene Opperman said while there had been developments in the case, no arrests had yet been made.

"We know everything about George Smith. We have spoken to his wife. We hope to make an arrest soon," said Opperman.

Smith's wife, Stella, fled South Africa after being granted bail in a theft case in 2007 and is believed to be living in Cyprus with the couple's four children but nobody is really sure at the present, such is life in the murky underworld

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