It took nearly five years, but someone has finally bought Bernie Madoff's former Hamptons mansion. After being on and off the market at various different prices in the last five years, the mansion sold for $14 million. That's an impressive amount, but still a steal compared to the $22.5 million it was originally listed for in 2018.
Not too long ago it was reported that the former Madoff home was having trouble selling, perhaps in part due to Madoff's own notoriety as a disgraced financier and orchestrator of possibly the largest Ponzi scheme of all time.
Madoff's family was not the seller in this recent instance. The home was sold in 2009 at auction by the US Marshals Service, with the proceeds going towards a fund to compensate some of Madoff's victims for money they lost due to his phony investments. Back then the selling price for the property was a reported $9.4 million, paid by one Steven Roth, chairman of Vornado Realty Trust. Roth and his wife, Broadway producer Daryl Roth, had the home renovated by designer Thierry Despont sometime in 2011, before listing it for sale in 2018. The identity of the more recent buyer of the property hasn't yet been disclosed.
The property was described in official marketing materials as being "[n]estled on 1.5 acres+/- of picturesque dunes." The listing went on:
"[A] visionary oceanfront estate featuring 180′ of water frontage along the majestic Atlantic coastline. Designed by Thierry Despont, the 3,000 SF+/- home was fully renovated in 2011, encompassing 3 bedrooms, 3 full and 1 half bathrooms, and a free-form heated gunite swimming pool."
You can take a look at the former Madoff Hamptons estate in the video below, from the Bespoke Real Estate YouTube channel: