Top row, from left: Al Kahn, the Time Warner Center living room and Bernie Madoff, whose former penthouse Kahn purchased last year. Bottom row, from left: the unit’s kitchen, the building exterior and another interior shot of the unit

Cabbage Patch Kids and Pokémon creator Al Kahn and his wife, Patsy, who purchased Bernie Madoff’s 133 East 64th Street penthouse last year for $8 million, have closed on the sale of their Time Warner Center condominium for around $20.5 million, according to the Post. The 62nd-floor unit had been on the market since January 2010, when it was listed for $33.6 million, and had since undergone a series of price cuts, most recently to $24.95 million. The 4,375-square-foot spread, which was listed by Brown Harris Stevens dynamic duo Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers, went into contract in February, as The Real Deal reported at the time. Comments

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

Last April, after toy tycoon Al Kahn purchased the former penthouse home of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff for $8 million at 133 East 64th Street, his wife, Patsy, told the New York Post that he “was worried about the [apartment's] karma” — turns out, he may have had reason to be concerned. The duplex home between Lexington and Park avenues is still vacant, sources say, and a mysterious blaze may be to blame, according to the Post. Compounding the Kahns’ problems are purported marital problems and a disappointing collection of offers on their former home, a 62nd-floor unit at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. [more]

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

The couple who bought Bernard Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse duplex loved the rooftop terrace so much that they decided to look past the co-op’s seamy history. “There just weren’t a lot of penthouses on the market with a lot of outdoor space,” buyer Patsy Kahn, the wife of toy magnate Al Kahn, told the Post. “He was worried about the karma, but I just loved the terrace,” she said.

The Madoff pad was asking $8.9 million, a $1 million price cut off its original listing price and a steal compared to the Time Warner Center condo the Kahns currently reside in, for which they’re asking $33 million. They purchased the 4,000-square-foot apartment at 133 East 64th Street in February for roughly $8 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reimburse victims of Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.

The Kahns, whose fortune comes from Al’s Cabbage Patch Dolls and Pokémon empires, have been approved by the co-op board, formerly headed by Madoff himself, and are planning to renovate. [Post] [more]

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

Bernie Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse, last listed for $8.9 million, has gone into contract for an undisclosed price, according to the Wall Street Journal. The buyer is also as-yet unknown. As The Real Deal first reported last month, brokers seeking to show the 133 East 64th Street home had been told there was an accepted offer on the seized duplex co-op, which was being sold by the United States Marshals Service. Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman had the listing, which came on the market in September for $9.9 million and saw a $1 million price chop in November. [more]

From the February issue: Nothing says progress like Madoff. Late last month, The Real Deal broke the story that the Ponzi schemer’s Upper East Side penthouse finally appears close to a sale.
Listing brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s
International Realty have told interested agents that there is an
accepted offer on the 133 East 64th Street duplex. At press time, the
U.S. Marshals Service, which seized the property from the disgraced
financier, said the listing had not yet entered contract.
The sale (if it does clear the many obstacles of today’s market) may not be unqualified good news.
The penthouse’s asking price is $8.9 million, following a November
price chop of $1 million. It’s also been sitting on the market since
September.  [more]

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

Bernie Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse may be close to finding a buyer. Brokers asking to show Madoff’s former
home at 133 East 64th Street have been told that there is an accepted
offer on the property, sources said. The seized co-op,
which is being sold by the United States Marshals Service, is
currently listed by Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Anne Corey
and Serena Boardman for $8.9 million after a $1 million price chop in November. The property was listed as having an accepted offer in at least one
brokerage’s internal listing system Thursday afternoon. But Roland Ubaldo, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, said
the brokers are negotiating with potential buyers and that the
property is still being shown. Corey and Boardman were not immediately available for comment. Madoff’s former Montauk home recently sold for $9.4 million.
[more]

Serena Boardman (Photo credit: Patrick McMullan)

From the December issue: It’s 2005, and golden-haired socialite
Serena Boardman is sunning herself on a yacht near the coast of
Sardinia in Italy. Nearby, her friend Dori Cooperman — now best known
for befriending actress Lindsay Lohan in rehab — is on the phone with
a reporter from W Magazine, chronicling the addictive qualities of
photo Web site PatrickMcMullan.com. Boardman interjects with her
opinion of the site, which documents the social lives of New York
City’s glitterati. “Tell him it captures a moment,” she shouts. Until
recently, the scene was typical for the 39-year-old Boardman, the
jet-setting heiress to a banking fortune whose stepmother is a European
princess. Along with society pals like Alexandra von Fürstenberg and Blaine Trump, Boardman spent her 20s being photographed in couture gowns at galas and benefits all over New York and Palm Beach, often with her equally glamorous sister, Samantha. Magazines chronicled her taste in clothes (Roberto Cavalli ruffled cocktail dresses) and jewelry (Verdura). She held jobs at the Web site Luxuryfinder.com and in the jewelry department at Sotheby’s. But to the media they were a postscript to Boardman’s glamorous social life. So it comes as a surprise to those who know Boardman that only a few years later, she’s morphed into one of the most successful real estate brokers in the business. [more]

Since seizing Bernard and Ruth Madoff’s apartment at 133 East 64th
Street on July 2, federal marshals have been considering brokers’
proposals to market the unit. The proceeds of the sale will go to the
victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Broker John Burger, senior vice
president and managing director at Brown Harris Stevens, offered to
sell the unit pro bono, foregoing a commission that could be 5 or 6
percent of the unit’s sale price. But Burger said he was told
government rules prevented the marshals from accepting pro bono offers.
Burger said the apartment would go on the market for about $7 million. Comments