A pair of high-floor Time Warner Center condos, each touched by high-profile scandals, is on the market for a combined $57.5 million. The first, a $34.95 million four-bedroom, 4,500-square-foot unit, belongs to alleged Psychic Readers Network scammer Steven Feder. Feder, whose hotline was brought down in 2002 after a fury of lawsuits led him to forgive $500 million in customer bills, purchased the apartment for $24.4 million in 2008, trading up from a $15.8 million condo 10 floors below. The second is an $18.45 million, 3,500-square-foot duplex owned by Doug Von Allmen, a venture capitalist who is reported to have been duped by Scott Rothstein, of Fort Lauderdale Ponzi scheme fame. While separately, the apartments’ cost only adds up to $53.4 million, brokers Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Brown Harris Stevens are hoping that buyers will be willing to pay the additional $4.1 million premium on the combined space. [Post, 1st item]

From the November issue: In Manhattan, buyers’ brokers are a secretive bunch. When there’s a
high-profile sale, the listing agent’s name is splashed across the
headlines: Brown Harris Stevens’ Richard Wallgren, for example, closed
the sale of a $37 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West in
September; Paula Del Nunzio made news for her record-setting $53
million sale of the Harkness mansion in 2006. Less well-known are the
brokers who represented the buyers. The identities of buyers’ brokers
are a jealously guarded secret, never listed in public records and
often never revealed. That’s the way many brokers — who pride
themselves on their discretion — like it, especially in a market where
lavish spending is viewed with disfavor. Ironically, brokers who
represent buyers are taking on a greater significance than ever, even
as they’re being asked to keep increasingly quiet about their role.
Well-qualified buyers are now scarce, and bringing them to the table is
crucial to the transaction. Recognizing this, high-end brokers are
spending more of their time representing buyers.