Partner Held in Attack for Hire Sting

A Coto de Caza businessman was arrested after he hired an undercover police officer posing as a hit man to break his partner’s knees and disfigure his face, police said Wednesday.

Authorities said Fariborz Seyedjafari, 43, had hoped the attack would convince his partner not to go to court over a business dispute the two had with their Mission Viejo tile and carpet company.

Seyedjafari met with an undercover police officer Tuesday in a Laguna Beach grocery store parking lot at 12:30 p.m., Laguna Beach police said.

The tile shop owner was arrested when he handed over a $1,000 deposit for the attack, police said. Seyedjafari is being held on $200,00 bail at Orange County Jail on suspicion of solicitation to commit a felony.

“The threat was pretty serious,” said Laguna Beach Police Capt. Danell Adams. “He felt, by these crude intimidation factors, he could convince the victim from pursuing him in court. It’s like Mafia stuff in the 1940s.”

A tipster told Laguna Beach police that Seyedjafari had been looking for someone to carry out the crime since November, Adams said. Officers said they determined that the threat was serious enough to warrant a sting operation. On Tuesday, police said, Seyedjafari met with the undercover officer for the first time and offered to pay $5,000 to have his partner attacked. He allegedly agreed to pay $1,000 up front and the balance when the job was done.

“We felt the threat was significant and he’d go through with his threat,” Adams said. “If we didn’t intervene as quickly as we did, there was a good possibility that the victim could have sustained major injury or been involved in a serious altercation.”

Seyedjafari and the partner, who was not identified, have known each other for years and formed Avery Wood, Tile and Carpet in Mission Viejo.

But the partner apparently wanted out of the business and asked Seyedjafari to divvy up the assets. When he refused, the partner threatened to go to court. “Part of the problem was that he had to buy the victim out of the partnership,” Adams said. “The suspect did not want to pay the money or go to court to argue for the money.”

Sandra Seyedjafari, who divorced Seyedjafari last year, said she was shocked to hear the allegations. She said that her ex-husband and his partner were close and that the families often socialized. “He’s not someone who would do something like that,” she said.

Police said that shortly after they notified the partner of Seyedjafari’s arrest, the man obtained a restraining order.

“He was disappointed and alarmed to hear that someone that he’s known for a while wanted to do this, just over a business deal,” Adams said. “It disturbed him, but he wasn’t shocked. They’ve had a conflicting relationship for a while.”