At least two dozen prospective buyers spent the long Labor Day weekend at Bernie's in Montauk, at the tip of New York's Long Island, where they perused the oceanfront house. Now it seems the federal marshals, who are selling off disgraced financier Bernie Madoff's assets, may have multiple offers for the property, which is priced at $8.75 million.
While his former neighbors on the East End of Long Island will rid themselves of his presence, so too may Madoff's long-suffering coop neighbors, on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The marshals are planning to put the 4,000-square-foot penthouse, where he spent his last days as a free man, up for sale this week. It has four fireplaces, a wraparound terrace and three walk-in closets. The property is expected to fetch between $8 million and $10 million. The contents, which include a baby grand piano, Oriental carpets, handmade custom furniture and antiques, will be auctioned off separately -- unlike the sale of another fraudster Marc Dreier's Manhattan apartment where the contents were sold with the home.
Bernie's wife Ruth vacated the New York City property in July when the marshals executed the seizure and is living at an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, the marshals' service is also putting the Madoff's 6,500-square-foot Palm Beach, Fla., estate on the market. Bloomberg's Justin Blum explains that crews from the marshal service have been busy cleaning up the Florida estate, making sure it's in tip-top shape, but locals are assuming they work for Madoff and have been somewhat unkind to the contractors. They've been cursed at, and one woman even hurled a bag of dog excrement at a contractor, narrowly missing him.
The federal government says the money from the sale of his properties will go to pay off investors. - Donna Block
Paulson's proposal to purchase an equity stake in Yellow Pages publisher Idearc is the second time in recent months an investor group has used its prepetition debt position to execute a bargain price 'exit LBO.'
