$95 Million Trump House Could Be Sold–Again
Donald Trump set a record when he sold a house for $95 million last year. It was, he proudly pointed out, the largest amount paid in the U.S. for a single-family home.
Now the beachfront mansion may set another Palm Beach, Fla., record–the fastest flip ever. Or, considering the state of the housing market, perhaps the largest dollar price drop.
Alexandra Clough reports in the Palm Beach Post that the buyer of the home, Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitri Rybolovlev, is getting a divorce.
His wife, Elena, is fighting for half the couple’s assets, including the Palm Beach home. (They have others assets, since she estimates their net worth at between $6 billion and $12 billion. Press reports say Mr. Rybolovlev has taken only a minor wealth hit in the crisis).
She had filed a lis pendens against the house, which gives control of the house to a court, but that was later removed. Meantime, she has asked for half the house, raising the chances that it could be sold in any settlement.
The whole mess is now with a court in Switzerland, where the couple moved “for security reasons.”
Ms. Rybolovlev says her husband “has a history of secreting and transferring assets in order to avoid his obligations.”
In the divorce filing, Elena said she was fed up with her husband’s womanizing–including a yacht cruise with several young women and, later, a mistress.
Of course, she could wind up keeping the place, especially now that she can tap the vast expertise of other Palm Beach divorcees. But if history is a guide, it will likely get sold off in a dissolution of assets.
Maybe the buyer could get a two-for-one with Madoff’s place.
Posted by Robert Frank
The Wealth Report
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