LilySafra

Safra Says Villa Leopolda Not for Sale at Any Price

The other day we wrote about a report in Forbes stating that Villa Leopolda in the Cote d'Azur, once the most expensive estate in the world with a reputed pricetag of $750 million, had been put back on the market for a mere $102 million. Leopolda's owner Lily Safra now says the Forbes report was "pure fantasy". "The residence is not being sold and was never offered for sale," Safra's rep Seth Goldschlager insists. Forbes has now removed Leopolda from its list of the world's most expensive estates. Albemarle House in Charlottesville, Va., listed at $100 million, is now the 4th most expensive estate in the world according to the magazine, behind No. 1, the Spelling Manor at $150 million; No. 2, Fleur De Lys at $125 million; and No. 3, Updown Court at $117 million.

Tags: Forbes, Lily Safra, LilySafra, Villa Leopolda, VillaLeopolda

Deposit On The World's Most Expensive House To Be Donated To Charity

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

The mystery surrounding who might have bought Villa Leopolda continues. The lavish home in Villefranche-sur-Mer, south-eastern France was on the market for a record price of 390 million euros. Last year rumors swirled about the rich Russian who bought the home. We went through a laundry list of billionaires before learning that the most likely candidate was Mikhail Prokhorov, currently Russia's richest man. He denied springing for the home but as my colleague Jared Paul Stern learned last month, Prokhorov reportedly signed a contract on the property and paid a $55 million deposit, but wanted his money back.

The villa's owner, Lily Safra, has no intention of letting that happen and she made it public last week by issuing a press release saying that she would donate money to ten charities using "all proceeds potentially available from a deposit made on the sale of Villa Leopolda, which has now been halted." King's College, London, and Imperial College, London would each receive one million euros neuroscience research. Safra doesn't name who the buyer might have been in the release. The home is no longer on the market which is probably for the best since the list of people with the funds to purchase such a home continues to dwindle.

Tags: lily safra, LilySafra, villa leopolda, VillaLeopolda

Russia's Richest Man Backs Out on $750 Million Mansion

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

It seems that Russia's new richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, may not have been telling the whole truth when he denied buying the world's most expensive house, the $750 million Villa Leopolda (above) on the French Riviera, last year. Back in August we reported that the metals magnate was the mysterious purchaser of the eye-popping property, but Prokhorov, who's worth $14.1 billion, protested his innocence, saying he declined to do business in France because of a mix-up with some prostitutes and the French police. Now the London Times reports that Prokhorov signed a contract on the property and paid a $55 million deposit, but wants to back out of the deal.

Prokhorov reportedly lost $7 billion in the economic crisis but has fared better than fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich. Prokhorov will likely face a legal battle over the deposit, which is non-refundable under French law, with the Villa's seller Lily Safra. "Lily is adamant that she's not handing the deposit back," a source close to the deal tells the London Daily Mail. "Mr. Prokhorov, in turn, claims that property prices have collapsed since August, and the figures originally discussed were unreasonable. He wants out, and he wants his money back." We expect Prokhorov, founder of a new magazine for snobs, will likely issue another denial this time as well.

Tags: France, French Riviera, FrenchRiviera, Lily Safra, LilySafra, Mikhail Prokhorov, MikhailProkhorov, Roman Abramovich, RomanAbramovich, Russian billionaires, RussianBillionaires, Snobs, Villa Leopolda, VillaLeopolda

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