Ponzi schemer Nicholson’s former Time Warner Center pad sells for $6.75M

Time Warner Center and James Nicholson

The U.S. Marshal’s office has unloaded the Time Warner Center condo that belonged to James Nicholson, the ex-hedge fund boss who currently resides at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan while awaiting sentencing for swindling investors out of $133 million, according to a deed filed today with the city.

Nicholson, who pleaded guilty last December on charges that he misled investors and overstated returns through his Westgate Capital Management, bought the 52nd-floor spread, ST52A, a year-and-a-half earlier for $8.5 million.

In June, a buyer whose identity was hidden behind the aptly-named Lucky Charming Chad LLC went into contract on the three-bedroom, 1,987-square-foot apartment at 25 Columbus Circle for just $6.75 million. The deal closed July 23.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals’ office, which seized the property early this year, said the sky-high condo received multiple offers and that the government accepted the best one. “The price was obviously a response to the market and just what it is now,” the spokesperson said. “We’re looking [out] for the benefit of the victims and the clients,” he added, though he said that whether the proceeds of the sale will go to the victims is a matter that will be decided in court.

Listing agents Anne Corey and Uni Kim Cregan of Sotheby’s International Realty did not respond to requests for comment.

Nicholson also owned properties in Southampton, Palm Beach, Saddle River, N.J., and Montvale, N.J., for which he paid more than $46 million, combined. The Southampton beach house was seized in May 2009 and sold that August for $25.9 million.