Madoff's Beach House Up for Sale - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com
As a relic of one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, the house in Montauk, N.Y., may seem a bit underwhelming. While not exactly a seaside shack — it’s got four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a pool and a 1.2-acre lot that ambles down to the shoreline — it is less grandiose than one might expect given the scope of Mr. Madoff’s $60 billion scheme.
In March, Mr. Madoff pleaded guilty to running a vast fraud that stung thousands of investors, in some cases draining away their life savings. He is serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina.
After taking a tour, The Associated Press sniffed that the house is “not that palatial.”
It’s certainly modest when compared with, say, the 10-bedroom, nine-and-a-half-bath estate in Southampton owned by Walter Noel. Mr. Noel’s investment firm lost more than $7 billion of clients’ money in Mr. Madoff’s funds.
Even so, The A.P. notes that Mr. Madoff’s property has some prime selling points, including a “grand, columned porch with stunning views.”
The government is asking $8.75 million for the beach house, which measures at slightly more than 3,000 square feet, and reportedly won’t accept less than $7 million.
If you were hoping for a less expensive piece of Madoff memorabilia, you might place a bid on some of the items in the house that the government plans to auction off later. There is an exercise bicycle, duck decoys and, according to Deputy United States Marshal Roland Ubaldo, some shoes belonging to Mr. Madoff’s wife, Ruth.
It would be an exaggeration to say that homes of financial felons are swamping the real estate market. But this week’s sale is hardly unique.
In June, the government held auctions for two homes in East Quogue, west of Montauk, that had belonged to Marc Dreier, the highflying lawyer who pleaded guilty to defrauding hedge funds out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
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