Turning the Other Sheik

Remember that Arab sheik who set Beverly Hills agog with his mint-green, late baroque-kitsch mansion? Now his father, Sheik Mohammad Al-Fassi, 47, head of an international shipping company, is involved in a new episode of Arabian-Angeleno misunderstanding.

The trouble all started at the Century Plaza Hotel, where the sheik was staying. Waiter Mario Rivas claims he delivered a basket of fruit to the sheik's room and that the sheik was furious because the food was two hours late.

The sheik, according to Rivas, slapped him across the face, inflicting what Rivas' lawyers call "an ear injury and trauma to the right cheek."

Attorney Marshall Bitkower filed suit against the sheik, asking for $2 million. Fearing that the sheik might soon leave the country, Bitkower decided to serve the papers himself. The sheik, it seems, had been expecting one of his own lawyers; he invited Bitkower up and gave him a $20 tip for his trouble. When he discovered his mistake, he was furious again. Said he: "I'm going to see to it that you go to jail."

The sheik denies the whole incident. "I would never order a basket of fruit," he declares. "I am a diabetic and do not eat sweets or fruit."

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