Beverly Hills properties once owned by convicted RE Ponzi schemer Shapiro sell for $69M

Five Southern California properties once owned by convicted real estate Ponzi schemer Robert Shapiro have sold for a total of $69.1 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. One of the properties is the Carla House, a 20,500-square-foot Beverly Hills home designed by Noah Walker, that sold for $35 million.

A liquidation entity for Shapiro’s Woodbridge Group of Companies sold four residences in Beverly Hills and a small office building in Los Angeles, according to the SEC documents, first spotted by Bisnow. The SEC documents did not reveal the buyers or break down how much each property sold for.

The Beverly Hills properties that sold include the Carla House at 1966 Carla Ridge; a four-bedroom home at 375 Trousdale Place as well as an adjacent lot at 385 Trousdale; and 9230 Robin Drive, a 0.95-acre residential site. The Los Angeles property is 8124 West 3rd Street, a 9,100-square-foot office building.

Compass’ Sally Forster Jones and her colleague Tomer Fridman had the listing for Carla House, which was put on the market in July for $46 million, or about $2,300 a foot. The sale of the seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom house closed Dec. 27 for $35 million, or $1,750 a foot, according to Compass’ website. Jones couldn’t be reached for comment, but on Dec. 28 she posted on her Instagram account regarding the deal.

“Was an absolute pleasure working on this architectural marvel,” she wrote. “Bittersweet to see it sold.”

The trust was formed following the bankruptcy of Woodbridge. Shapiro pleaded guilty in August to orchestrating a $1.3 billion real estate Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded more than 7,000 investors, many of them elderly. Shapiro was sentenced to 25 years in prison in October.

According to investigators, Woodbridge promised investors that their cash would be used to build and buy luxury properties that would yield high returns. Shapiro and the company were accused of instead buying properties through a web of legal entities to obscure ownership.

Investigators said properties and development sites worth hundreds of millions of dollars were purchased in Los Angeles and across the country, with Shapiro admitting that he “misappropriated” between $25 million and $95 million in investor funds. Among the properties was the historic Owlwood Estate, a 12,200-square-foot home that Shapiro bought for $90 million in 2016.

Shapiro is also on the hook to pay the SEC $120 million as part of a civil settlement with the agency.