Bernard Madoff's beach house has a mysterious new owner.
An unidentified buyer or buyers snapped up Madoff's Montauk, N.Y., beach house within days after the U.S. Marshals Service put the seized property up for sale, and for more than the $8.75 million asking price, the Corcoran Group told
ABC News Thursday.
"We have a fully signed contract," said Joan Hegner, who added that interest in the convicted con man's beach-front property was "fast and furious."
The house, which only came onto the market Sept. 1, attracted numerous bids, and the U.S. Marshals Service, who is charged with auctioning off Madoff's properties, selected the winner. The name of the buyer or the amount of the winning offer is yet to be revealed, but whoever moves in will have neighbors along the beach that include Robert De Niro and Ralph Lauren.
The four-bedroom house is set on a 1.2-acre lot amid the dunes in Montauk, a community east of the Hamptons on Long Island. The house is modest by Hamptons standards, but it boasts stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and sits closer to the surf than zoning laws now allow. The government seized the property in July, and proceeds from the sale will go to the victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Buyers were required by the U.S. Marshals Service to show that they had enough cash on hand to purchase the home outright without a mortgage. The feds are also planning to soon find buyers for Madoff's Upper East Side penthouse and a Palm Beach, Fla., estate. Madoff had valued the New York City apartment at $7 million and the Florida property at $11 million. He valued the beach house at $3 million.
Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday, it was discovered that someone made off with an Aztec statue of a coyote that was on the front porch of the Montauk property. The statue was estimated to be worth $300. -
Donna Block
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