From the South Florida website: After one year and $2 million worth of price cuts, Bernard Madoff’s Palm Beach mansion has gone into contract, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unlike Madoff’s other properties — a waterfront home in Montauk, N.Y. and a penthouse on New York City’s Upper East Side — the five-bedroom, 8,800-square-foot house at 410 North Lake Way had been languishing on the market, with brokers calling it overpriced and a probable teardown. Originally listed for $8.49 million last September, brokers Burt Minkoff and Jim McCann of the Corcoran Group were most recently asking $6.5 million for the home on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service, which will use the proceeds of the sale to return money to victims of Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

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A $2.6 million colonial-style Long Island home belonging to Bernie Madoff’s former office manager could be seized as part of the federal government’s investigation into her boss’ $68 billion Ponzi scheme, the Post reported. Annette Bongiorno, who has not been criminally charged, was hit yesterday with a civil lawsuit by federal prosecutors seeking more than $5.1 million of her assets. Prosecutors, who first filed suit against Bongiorno in June, are now saying that they’ve found more than $2 million worth of additional assets. The updated Manhattan federal court filing targets a luxury home in Manhasset, Long Island that Bongiorno and her husband bought for $1.4 million in 2000, in addition to a $1.2 million lakeside home in Boca Raton, Fla., for which they paid $862,000 in 1995. The suit also seeks forfeiture of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz sedan worth $65,900, that Bongiorno purchased in 2007. All the assets will be auctioned off to pay back victims of Madoff’s scheme. [Post]

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Great Neck, LI-based property owner Parkoff Organization purchased an Upper East Side mixed-use building at 1248-1250 Lexington Avenue for $10 million yesterday, a broker on the deal said. The five-story building at the corner of Lexington and 84th Street has 24 mostly rent-stabilized apartments and six commercial units, including one that is home to Mimi’s Pizza Kitchen. City property records listed the seller as Sussex Associates. Adam Parkoff, principal with the buyer, said his firm bought it because of the steady residential and retail demand on the Upper East Side. [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]

From left: Nouriel Roubini, Sheila Bair, Bernie Madoff, Jamie Dimon

Nouriel Roubini ranks first among “scientists and thinkers” on Time magazine’s list of the most influential people of 2009, but columnist Joel Stein begs to differ. “You predicted the housing bubble before it happened?” he wrote. “Well, that might make you the least influential person in the entire world. I predicted the Yankees need a set-up man. I guess I’m an influencer too.” Also of note on Time’s annual list: CEO Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, No. 13 among “builders and titans;” the FDIC’s Sheila Bair and Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, coming in at 14th and 20th, respectively, on the same list; and architects Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 10th among “artists and entertainers.” [more]

From the March issue: Real estate scams are the crime du jour, it seems. In the 2000s, the era of easy credit and lax lending standards created a compelling motive for fraud that legal experts say is still being uncovered. Even now, with prices down from the peak, New York City real estate is pricey enough to tempt would-be criminals. Adam Hochfelder, for example, lost his status as a charismatic wunderkind of Manhattan real estate in 2008, when he was arrested and accused of stealing more than $17 million from banks, friends and family through fraudulent loans and a fictitious real estate venture. Then, last month, he was indicted again, this time on charges that he stole some $2.5 million from business associates and friends by leading them to believe they were investing in deals to acquire the Sagamore Hotel on Lake George in upstate New York and the Peaks Resort and Spa in Telluride, Colo. Now, The Real Deal dissects his crime. [more]

Bernard Madoff and the Montauk house

While notorious Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff’s Montauk $9.4 million beachfront property has been long-sold, to Vornado’s Steven Roth in September, the furnishings inside remain owner-less. But buyers who want to own a piece of Madoff’s former East End glory now have their chance. The furniture, utensils and other assorted knick-knacks are hitting the auction block this spring, either in April or May, at the county public safety academy in Parsippany, NJ, according to James Plousis, a U.S. Marshall for New Jersey. “We want to run an auction for as little cost as possible, so that just about every penny we make can go back to the victims,” Plousis said.

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]