'Literally burning down': Questions raised after fires at major Trump backer's business

John Paulson, an American hedge fund billionaire, "one of the most prominent names in high finance" and a major backer of Donald Trump, saw one of his luxury car dealerships in Puerto Rico go up in flames this past weekend — for the second time in five months.

And lawyers for Paulson's former business partner, Fahad Ghaffar, are suggesting that there's something sinister behind the fires.

“Since [Ghaffar] was displaced in August last year, there have been two unprecedented fires at Porsche and Ferrari, and the business appears to literally be burning down,” his attorney, Marty Russo, told The Daily Beast.

“It’s very concerning because Mr. Ghaffar invested $17 million for a convertible note which he has been forced to pursue in an ongoing federal securities fraud claim against John Paulson and PRV Holdings,” he added.

Paulson said that a criminal investigation of the fires has been launched and he and his people were “actively collaborating with law enforcement agencies in their investigation as to the cause of the fire.”

Also read: Trump warns 'Obama, Bush and Biden in big trouble' if his legal troubles don't vanish

As The Daily Beast points out, Ghaffar and Paulson are locked in a legal battle over Paulson's business empire involving three federal cases and three state-level ones.

Ghaffar claims Paulson "ousted him from the auto dealership in August and failed to deliver his promised 50 percent stake. He also claims in a separate suit that Paulson booted him from his hotel business, in which Ghaffar had invested millions of his own money, after learning that his business manager stood to make more from the investment than he did," The Beast's report stated.

Paulson says Ghaffar defrauded him out of $200 million "by running up personal expenses on his business accounts and doling out lucrative contracts to friends and family members."

Paulson, who has raised around $50 million for Donald Trump, said through his attorneys that Ghaffar’s suits are “a sham designed solely to divert attention from his numerous criminal schemes detailed in Paulson’s complaint.”

Despite the legal battle with his former business partner and a contentious divorce case with his estranged wife, who accuses him of hiding over a billion dollars from her during their marriage, he still has time to host another fundraiser for Trump at his Palm Beach home this month.