It presents quite a pitiful site — price labels attached to every piece of furniture and bereft of the signs of a luxurious lifestyle, in fact jailed financier’s Bernard Madoff’s Long Island beach house doesn’t look that palatial.
The 3,014 square feet property has just gone on the market after it was seized by the United States Marshals Service and the proceeds will be used to pay back some of the thousands of investors who lost money to the disgraced Madoff’s multi billion dollar pyramid scheme.
It is actually small compared to many of the luxurious neighbouring properties and it doesn’t have a garage or a walk in closet. In its favour it is closer to the beach than many properties and it does have a pool.
The property, which has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, also has stunning views of the sea just east of the Hamptons on the south eastern tip of Long Island and has a grand columned porch. But it looks rather sad with its faded furniture.
The Marshals Service announced that the Corcoran Group will list the beach property at $8.75 million. ‘Our goal is to place the homes on the market soon to minimize the amount of time they remain in our inventory and maximize the return to the victims,’ said United States Marshal, Joseph Guccione.
Madoff, 71, was jailed in June for 150 years for orchestrating a massive Ponzi style investment scheme that spanned decades. Madoff never made investments and instead siphoned new investors’ money to pay returns to existing ones and to fuel a life of luxury. All properties belonging to him and his wife, Ruth, were seized.
All the contents of the Long Beach house are being sold at auction, hence the labels. They include the furniture, works of art, Ruth Madoff’s shoes and even 17 beach towels.
Madoff’s Manhattan apartment and an estate in Palm Beach, Florida, are also expected to go on sale soon. In estimates federal regulators filed last year, Madoff himself valued his Manhattan apartment at $7 million and the Florida property at $11 million.