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Ariana Grande’s new Bird Streets pad was in Ponzi schemer’s portfolio
The pop star’s 10K sf home in the Hills had been owned by now defunct developer and investor Woodbridge Group of Properties
Ariana Grande’s new Bird Streets home had once been in the portfolio of convicted spec home investor Robert Shapiro.
The pop star paid $13.7 million for the home in the Hills in an off-market deal, far less than the $25.5 million it listed for two years ago. The Los Angeles Times first reported the sale. The most recent offering was around $17.5 million for the four-bedroom, five-bathroom property. Compass most recently had the listing for the home on Thrasher Avenue.
The 10,000-square-foot, three-story home has balconies, an infinity pool, a “wellness center,” a 300-bottle wine cellar, and an interesting past.
The iDGroup-designed home is among the 138 properties tied to Sherman Oaks-based investment firm Woodbridge Group of Properties.
Shapiro, who was head of the now defunct company, is serving 25 years in federal prison for what authorities called a $1.3 billion Ponzi scheme to defraud investors.
In the years before news broke of federal investigations of Woodbridge in late 2018, Shapiro’s firm bought numerous high-end residential properties around L.A., and built spec homes and mansions on many of them.
After Shapiro’s arrest, a court-appointed administrator of the properties — Frederick Chin of Viewpoint Collection — was put in charge of recouping investor losses. Since then Woodbridge’s L.A. properties have been steadily sold off.
Kylie Jenner picked up a former Woodbridge property in Hidden Hills last month for $15 million. Another one, the 20,000-square-foot Carla House in Beverly Hills, sold in January for $35 million.