Man who sold his Miami mansion for $79M files lawsuit after he discovers identity of mystery buyer
An electronics magnate is suing the real estate agent who convinced him to knock $6 million off the asking price of his home without telling him the buyer was the world’s second-richest man.
Last year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in the middle of a house buying spree when he was captivated by the 17,500-square-foot mansion for sale for $85 million on Miami’s Indian Creek Island.
The private island, nicknamed the “Billionaire Bunker,” is home to Ivanka Trump and Tom Brady, among others, and Bezos had just purchased the house next door for $68 million.
Owner Leo Kryss accepted a $79 million offer and is suing broker Douglas Elliman to get the missing $6 million, alleging the real estate firm concealed the identity of the billionaire buyer and told him $79 million was the final offer.
“It was material to his negotiations and his decision on the final sale price to know whether Bezos attempted to acquire the home anonymously and then merge it with the adjacent property,” the lawsuit states.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had just bought the house on the left for $68 million when he made an offer on the house next door, which was listed for sale in May of last year for $85 million
The world’s second richest man, pictured with his wife Lauren Sanchez, offered $6 million below the asking price without revealing his identity
Bezos, who is currently worth more than $200 billion, made headlines last June with his purchase of the home at 11 Indian Creek Island Road for $68 million.
Kryss claims he suspected the offer on his house at No. 12 a few weeks later came from the owner of the Washington Post, but that Jay Parker, the CEO of Elliman in Florida, flatly denied it when asked about it.
Kryss, who made his own fortune from Brazilian electronics company Tectoy, bought the seven-bedroom home in 2014 for $28 million.
But he was confident the wine cellar, library, theater and pool would fetch the $85 million asking price when the property went on the market last May.
On the 300-acre island, home prices had been rising for decades as Miami’s tech industry boomed. The house next door, which cost $68 million, was worth just $1.4 million in 1982.
The island is only accessible via a guarded bridge and is protected by a private police force that patrols the community 24 hours a day, on foot, by land and by air.
Residents have access to an exclusive country club and a private 18-hole golf course, while Miami’s South Beach is just eight miles away.
With an average home price of $29.5 million and only 41 homes, Indian Creek is considered ‘the most exclusive community in the world’.
Brazilian toy magnate Leo Kryss, pictured with his family, claims that real estate agent Douglas Elliman flatly denied that Bezos was behind the purchase when he raised his suspicions
Kryss is now suing the agent for the $6 million he knocked off the asking price
Bezos owns several properties on Indian Creek Island, along with retired NFL star Tom Brady and former First Daughter Ivanka Trump
The private residential enclave is a magnet for billionaires, celebrities and power couples thanks to its privacy and security
The area has attracted the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the past, but current residents include investor Carl Icahn and Jared Kushner.
Kushner and former First Daughter Ivanka Trump purchased their home in April 2021 for $24 million and spent more than two years renovating it.
Carl Icahn reportedly bought his mansion in 1997 for $7.5 million, while Colombian banker Jaime Gilinski put together five properties to build a compound for his family.
Only after Kryss accepted the lowered offer did he discover that Bezos owned the company that had made the offer.
Six months later, the Amazon boss bought his third home on the island, paying $90 million for a house that had sold for $2.5 million in 1998.
“A lot of billionaires, when they buy a home, are concerned that if the seller knows their identity, they’ll want a bigger amount of money,” Danny Hertzberg, a real estate agent in Miami, told the WSJ.
His purchase was merely an addition to a real estate portfolio worth more than $600 million spread across New York, Washington DC, Beverly Hills and West Texas, among other locations.
In 2022, the billionaire added a 14-acre private estate in Hawaii to his collection, which is surrounded by dormant lava fields.
The three-building estate, located on the picturesque La Perouse Bay on Valley Isle in Maui, Hawaii, earned the former Amazon boss an estimated $78 million.
The year before, he had added a luxury Manhattan apartment to the string of properties he already owned on New York City’s posh Fifth Avenue.
The businessman bought five properties in three years and essentially built a mega villa out of them.
Miami’s Indian Creek Island, overlooking Biscayne Bay, is known as the ‘Billionaire Bunker’ thanks to its mega-rich residents, who are a mix of celebrities and business magnates
In April, Bezos spent $90 million on a third mansion on Indian Creek Island, bringing his total investment in the area, known as the “Billionaire Bunker,” to $237 million.
His latest home is adjacent to extravagant mansions owned by real estate developer Jeff Soffer and NFL legend Tom Brady
According to Bloomberg, the Amazon mogul plans to live in the home he recently purchased in an off-market transaction while he demolishes the two mansions.
In 2016, he spent a whopping $23 million on a former textile museum in the exclusive Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. He also bought a $5 million piece of land across the street, with a direct view of the former museum grounds.
Douglas Elliman, who acted for both the buyer and seller in the sale of Kryss’s home, received a four percent commission on the sale, equal to approximately $3 million. WSJ reported.
A company spokesman said it would not comment on the pending lawsuit filed in the 11th Judicial District in Miami-Dade County.
But Kryss’s attorney, Dana Clayton, said “Douglas Elliman failed to meet its duties to our client.”
“They knew, or should have known, who the ultimate beneficial purchaser was and misrepresented that very important fact to our client,” she added.