One of Australia’s most successful fashion industry moguls will face trial next year over allegations he held a woman captive at his Byron Bay beach villa and violently abused her.

Melbourne businessman Shmuel Tal is a self-made millionaire who founded T2M Fashion, a leading distributor of luxury international labels.

Designer dresses, jackets, jeans and sneakers imported by his business have retailed for thousands of dollars in high-end boutiques across the country.

Mr Tal also runs T2M Sensory, which sells exclusive European fragrance brands to major cosmetic, fashion and homeware retailers.

The 49-year-old is well-known within the Australian fashion scene, including for the lavish parties he throws at his home and showroom, a two-storey converted warehouse in St Kilda.

A man at a party is flanked by two people in galah costumes.

Mr Tal at a party at his Melbourne showroom. (Supplied)

Mr Tal would regularly travel overseas to perfume and fashion trade shows throughout Europe, but he has been forced to surrender his Australian and Israeli passports as a condition of his bail.

The fashion mogul is facing allegations that he raped a woman eight times and detained her against her will in November 2023.

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Mr Tal is also charged with other violent and sexual offences, including choking, assault and recording intimate images of the woman without her consent.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and will face trial in June next year.

In the meantime, court records show Mr Tal is banned from entering Byron Bay’s popular party scene whenever he travels up from Melbourne to visit his beach house, about 2.5 kilometres from the town centre.

A self-made millionaire

Shmuel Tal was born in Israel and arrived in Australia more than two decades ago as a young man.

A man in a white collared shirt and dark jacket stands with his hands in his pockets, with a serious expression.

Shmuel Tal is charged with multiple sexual and violent offences. (Supplied)

Former friends and colleagues have told the ABC that he started out by selling jewellery on the streets of Perth and quickly became very successful.

“He started with nothing and now he has an empire,” one of his former friends said.

Over the past 25 years, Mr Tal has built a designer fashion agency and fragrance business that his colleagues say turned over millions of dollars a year.

Property records show Mr Tal owns several large homes and investment properties, including a Bondi Beach apartment.

In 2020, he purchased a block of land at Byron Bay for $2.45 million and built a two-storey holiday home, where police allege the offending took place three years later.

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Mr Tal is allowed to visit his beach house as part of his bail conditions, but either he or his lawyer must alert police or court officials at least two weeks in advance that Mr Tal plans on travelling to the popular NSW beach town.

Court records show he is under a strict night-time curfew and is not allowed to leave a small, restricted area surrounding his beach property other than to report daily to police in Byron Bay.

Mr Tal is also banned from engaging the services of escorts.

His lawyer, Josh McKenzie, told the ABC that “Mr Tal maintains his innocence and looks forward to clearing his name”.

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