Left: Paris Hilton arrives at the Chanel Cruise 2022/2023 Fashion Show on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP). Right: Fred Khalilian participates in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of Club Paris, which he co-owned with Paris Hilton, in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove).
A one-time business partner to hotel heiress and anti-child abuse advocate Paris Hilton has been charged with hiring a jailed rapper’s former head of security to kill a documentary filmmaker whose movie he suspected would portray him in a negative light.
Fereidoun Khalilian, 51, who paired with Hilton to launch Club Paris in Orlando in 2004, is accused of offering a hitman $20,000 to take out a former associate who was working on a documentary about him, federal investigators said in a criminal complaint filed Thursday. The would-be hitman, identified in court documents only as M.S., appeared to go along with the plan, but instead ultimately teamed up with the target, staging a fake crime scene that appeared to depict the murder and telling federal law enforcement about the murder plot.
“They actually asked if you wanted a souvenir,” M.S. wrote Khalilian, according to court documents, after sending him pictures of what turned out to be a fake murder.
Khalilian and the target, identified in court filings as “Victim One,” have actually known each other for years, starting when the latter was working as a computer repairman in Miami and fixed the former’s computer in 2009, according to the complaint. Impressed, Khalilian brought Victim One on as an employee at what he said was a telemarketing company, but what turned out to be a robocall service for extended vehicle warranties. Victim One believed that the company was a scam targeting elderly people, and indeed the business shut down after a raid by federal authorities and a $4 million fine.
Victim One declined Khalilian’s invitation to keep working with him, the complaint says, and the two parted ways, with Victim One moving to Los Angeles in 2013 to work in Hollywood. They crossed paths in 2019, running into each other “by happenstance,” the complaint says. This meeting, during which Khalilian introduced himself to Victim One’s friends as Dubai royalty and called himself “Prince Fred,” and a subsequent internet search during which Victim One realized that he was “linked to numerous fraud cases,” sparked Victim One’s interest in his former employer.
“Intrigued by Khalilian’s life as a con man, Victim One decided to produce a documentary about Khalilian’s life of fraud and deception,” the complaint says. “Victim One convinced Khalilian to be interviewed for the documentary by minimizing the fact that the documentary was an exposé and instead emphasizing the great publicity this would bring to Khalilian.”
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Meanwhile, Khalilian met M.S. for the first time in March 2021, when M.S. was the head of security for a “prominent rapper” who would be sent to prison in May of that year for three years on a human trafficking charge. At that point, Khalilian asked M.S. to join his security detail. M.S. did, but by February of 2022, M.S. saw a “different side” to Khalilian, including “severe mood swings,” the complaint says.
M.S. also noticed that Khalilian was “especially negative about Victim One” and suspected that he might have been hacking his social media and bank accounts and harassing his friends and family. Indeed, Victim One, using various spoofed phone numbers, contacted Khalilian multiple times — around 20, according to investigators — during a two-week period in March 2023, when Khalilian and his girlfriend were vacationing in Europe, according to the complaint.
Khalilian wasn’t pleased.
“I’m going to f— you up b—-,” Khalilian allegedly said in a call to Victim One on March 8. “I’m going to have your f—— head. I’m going to f— you up so hard […] when I’m done with you, I’m going to cut each one of your f—— fingers off. I’m coming for you motherf—– […] Listen to me. I’m going to get you. I’m going to cut your f—— d— off. I’m going to stick it in your mouth while I f— you in the a–[.]”
That same day, Khalilian messaged M.S., and the would-be murder-for-hire plot gained momentum, according to the probable cause affidavit. Eight days later, M.S. messaged Khalilian a pledge that the job would be done soon and that he would hire someone to do it.
“Not leavin ya hanging,” M.S. allegedly said in the message. “I got it I’ll be there personally … I’m want [sic] to pay them 1,000 each, these are Mexicans. There is three of them.”
The next day, however, M.S., who had given an interview to the target for his documentary in 2022, called Victim One “to warn him that Khalilian was paying M.S. $20,000 to have Victim One killed,” according to the complaint, which also detailed Khalilian’s alleged transfer of thousands of dollars to M.S. in apparent payment for the murder. “Victim One and M.S. discussed staging a fake death scene to lead Khalilian into believing Victim One had been killed.”
That same day, they did just that.
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“M.S. sent a staged proof of death photo of Victim One and told Khalilian: ‘I have 67 photos and a video,”” the affidavit says.
Four days later, on March 21, Victim One reported Khalilian’s murder-for-hire scheme to FBI agents in Los Angeles, the complaint says. M.S., under the direction of FBI agents, then made recorded calls to Khalilian, during which Khalilian appeared to confirm payment for what he believed was the murder of Victim One.
“Thank you, thank you sir,” Khalilian said in a call with M.S. on March 23, according to the complaint. “His body, nobody is going to be able to find him, huh?”
“No, no one’s going to be able to find him,” M.S. allegedly replied.
“Alright, cool,” Khalilian said.
“They actually asked if you wanted a souvenir,” M.S. told Khalilian.
“Yes,” Khalilian said. “No, no I don’t.”
“I told them I’d ask but that’s about it,” M.S. replied while laughing, according to the complaint.
“Yeah they like to cut heads and fingers and s—,” Khalilian reportedly said.
Khalilian was arrested on Wednesday at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Defense attorneys requested that Khalilian be released, arguing that he “has no felony criminal history” and “has tremendous family support,” including a brother who “owns and operates 3 DMV offices in California (which require security clearance).” Lawyers also said that Khalilian has a “significant medical condition” that requires daily medication and that he has suffered two heart attacks. The magistrate judge in Las Vegas denied that request, as Khalilian was ordered to be transferred to federal custody in California.
Khalilian faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Read the federal criminal complaint, below.
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