The billionaire founder of the Pacific Investment Management Co. sued his neighbor, who has filed a counter claim accusing him of harassment, alleging the neighbor has been “peeping” on the philanthropist and his girlfriend in Laguna Beach, according to court papers obtained Monday.
PIMCO founder Bill Gross and his girlfriend Amy Schwartz, a former professional tennis player and amateur golfer, filed a lawsuit Oct. 13 against his neighbor Mark Towfiq before Towfiq and Carol Nakahara sued Gross and Schwartz last week.
Towfiq and Nakahara accused Gross of erecting an unsightly art installation without permits that blocks the shoreline view and then harassing them when they filed a complaint. Gross accused Towfiq of “peeping” on him and his girlfriend and taking pictures of them.
“At first… Towfiq was a reasonably unobtrusive neighbor, despite constructing a home that is starkly different from the other homes in the area and which garnered a decent amount of attention in the press for the previously quiet street,” Gross alleged in the lawsuit.
“Over time, however, a different side of defendant Towfiq emerged,” the lawsuit continues. “Towfiq became more and more obsessed with plaintiff’s comings and goings. He installed a large number of cameras on his property, often but not always disguised, and appears to have trained a number of them on plaintiffs’ home and pool.”
Gross also alleges that Towfiq “has been spotted leering from his bedroom window, deck and other places around his home at plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ family,” according to the lawsuit.
“Worse yet, at these various times, defendant Towfiq has been seen taking photos and/or video recordings of plaintiffs and their family on a smartphone, as well as however his multitude of other recording devices capture images,” the lawsuit alleges.
Gross alleges that the neighbor has a “particular fascination” with the “bond king” and his girlfriend, “particularly when the pair are swimming and thus wearing minimal, if any, clothing,” the lawsuit alleges.
The couple said they have reached out to Towfiq to “get him to cease his peeping tom behaviors,” but have been “rebuffed,” and it has “encouraged and emboldened” him to pursuit “more obvious and brazen acts of observation and photography.”
An Orange County Superior Court judge on Friday granted a temporary restraining order for Towfiq and Nakahara against Gross and a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Towfiq and Nakahara claimed Gross is harassing them with blaring music, including the “Gilligan’s island” theme on a loop throughout the night.