How a struggling Syrian refugee became powerhouse LA celeb realtor now funding a massive new Jewish center

Source: New York Post

The mogul behind what will be America’s largest Jewish center arrived in the US as a struggling Syrian refugee — and has since built a real-estate empire featuring some of LA’s most expensive, recognizable properties. Alon Abady, 55 — whose Hollywood-drenched dealings have involved stars from Justin Bieber to Simon Cowell — rose to quiet fortune after settling in California with his family from Damascus in the 1970s. He and his relatives ended up on Los Angeles’s Westside, and Abady got into real estate while attending UCLA, working as an agent and learning the business firsthand.