{"id":140711,"date":"2020-12-23T22:01:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T19:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bill-gross-ordered-to-stop-tormenting-neighbor-with-music\/"},"modified":"2020-12-23T22:01:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T19:01:53","slug":"bill-gross-ordered-to-stop-tormenting-neighbor-with-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bill-gross-ordered-to-stop-tormenting-neighbor-with-music\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bill Gross ordered to stop tormenting neighbor with music"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Bill Gross ordered to stop tormenting neighbor with music<\/strong>”
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The verdict is in: Bill Gross attempted to bully his neighbor over a $1 million lawn sculpture.<\/p>\n

A California judge ordered the billionaire \u201cBond King\u201d Wednesday to stop tormenting his techie neighbor by blasting the \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d theme<\/a> song on a mind-numbing loop.<\/p>\n

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Knill said there was \u201cclear and convincing evidence\u201d that Gross and his partner, Amy Schwartz, blared that and other tunes to harass neighbor Mark Towfiq in retaliation for a complaint he filed about a sculpture outside Gross\u2019 oceanfront mansion.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the bench, Knill cited what she called credible testimony from Towfiq, his wife and two local cops who heard the racket \u2014 as well as foreboding text messages Gross fired off after Towfiq complained about the music.<\/p>\n

In one July 31 message, Gross wrote, \u201cPeace on all fronts or we\u2019ll just have nightly concerts big boy.\u201d A couple months later, on Oct. 10, he asked Towfiq, \u201cHave you dropped the art complaint to the city?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaken together \u2026 [Gross\u2019 texts] are strong evidence nightly concerts were planned by gross in some sort of retaliation because of his dissatisfaction with Towfiq, for whatever reason,\u201d Knill said. <\/p>\n

The music, which played from July into October, was a \u201cknowing and willful course and pattern of conduct constituting harassment,\u201d Knill said.<\/p>\n

She slapped Gross and Schwartz with a three-year restraining order banning them from playing music outside their home when no one is in the backyard pool area. They\u2019re also barred from contacting or coming within five yards of Towfiq and his wife, Carol Nakahara, except in connection with legal proceedings or if they\u2019re on their own property.<\/p>\n

Knill also shot down Gross\u2019 claims that Towfiq harassed him and Schwartz by recording them and peeping at their home. She did chastise the tech entrepreneur for filming one video of Gross in his backyard, though she said the incident didn\u2019t constitute harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe behavior is unacceptable and if it continues it may justify the filing of a new request for restraining order,\u201d Knill said.<\/p>\n

Gross \u2014 worth an estimated $1.5 billion, according to Forbes \u2014 is famous for his colorful clashes. He sued Pimco, the investment behemoth he founded in 1971, for his 2014 ouster, claiming a \u201ccabal\u201d of junior managers plotted against him to increase their share of the bonus pool.<\/p>\n

After his divorce was finalized in 2017, his ex-wife accused him of leaving their 13,819-square-foot Laguna Beach home, which she won in the divorce, a smelly mess, including dead fish in the vents. Gross denied the allegations. <\/p>\n

And last year, as The Post exclusively reported at the time, Gross attempted to thwart his estranged son\u2019s efforts to sell rare \u201cInverted Jenny\u2019\u2019 postage stamps he had inherited. The stamps ended up going to auction after the story ran and selling for $1.9 million. <\/p>\n

While Gross and Towfiq still have to litigate their dueling civil complaints, Knill\u2019s ruling marks a key milestone in the bizarre battle that began with simple gripe about a sculpture outside Gross\u2019 home and exploded into a dramatic saga of threats, spying and musical torture.<\/p>\n

Gross\u2019 attorney, Jill Basinger, pooh-poohed the impact in Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, Mr. Towfiq\u2019s massive expenditure of public resources of the city, the Laguna Beach police department, and the Orange County courts to pursue his personal vendetta over our client\u2019s art and music choices has done nothing more than result in an order that Mr. Gross and Ms. Schwartz continue to do what they have always done: keep following the law,\u201d Basinger said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Towfiq was initially bugged by a protective net Gross installed above the glass Dale Chihuly sculpture, which he claimed blocked the view from his own house. He lodged a complaint about the net with local officials in June \u2014 and the retired PIMCO founder fired back by blaring music at earsplitting volumes, including Led Zeppelin and the themes to \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d and \u201cGreen Acres.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gross and Schwartz alleged that Towfiq was an obsessed \u201cpeeping tom\u201d who \u201cwatched, leered at, photographed, and videotaped\u201d the couple in their home for more than a year. They sued Towfiq for invasion of privacy and other violations in October, and he filed his own harassment complaint a day later.<\/p>\n

Gross, 76, tried to bring an end to the hostilities earlier this month by proposing he and Towfiq drop their lawsuits and donate their projected legal costs to charity \u2014\u00a0a proposal Towfiq\u2019s lawyer quickly rebuffed\u00a0as an \u201cattempt to spin the media<\/a>.\u201d Gross went on to give $500,000 to local charities anyway while doubling down on his demand that Towfiq join him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case never should have gotten to this point,\u201d Gross said in a statement Wednesday. \u201cMr. Towfiq wanted his 15 minutes of fame but got it at the expense of the county, its courts, and those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towfiq\u2019s lawyer, Chase Scolnick, praised the ruling, despite\u00a0the judge\u2019s\u00a0verbal slap on the wrist\u00a0for his client.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur clients have been living a nightmare,\u201d Scolnick said. \u201cEveryone can empathize with having a horrible neighbor, and we look forward to the next stage where Gross and Schwartz have to face a jury with their lies.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Bill Gross ordered to stop tormenting neighbor with music” The verdict is in: Bill Gross attempted to bully his neighbor over a $1 million lawn sculpture. A California judge ordered the billionaire \u201cBond King\u201d Wednesday to stop tormenting his techie neighbor by blasting the \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d theme song on a mind-numbing loop. Orange County Superior…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/bill-gross-01.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[87558,77261,13096,76109,70446,75408],"class_list":["post-140711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-23-20","tag-bill-gross","tag-california","tag-feuds","tag-lawsuits","tag-neighbors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}