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Bel Air property once owned by convicted Ponzi schemer Robert Shapiro sells for $60M
The sale of the 21,000-square-foot property on Stradella Court is the latest in a trust’s ongoing sell-off of the conman’s former assets.
A planned Bel Air spec mansion formerly controlled by convicted Ponzi schemer Robert Shapiro has sold for $60 million, according to sale documents made public on Monday.
The 21,000-square-foot property — currently under construction at 10721 Stradella Court — was originally listed in 2016 for $100 million by a Shapiro-backed residential brokerage called Mercer Vine.
The anonymous buyer purchased the property through an entity called Sky Garden 2020 LLC, which is registered to the San Francisco office of international law firm Perkins Coie, records show. It sold for roughly $2,850 a foot.
A Shapiro subsidiary company bought the Stradella Court property in February 2016 for $14.6 million. After the developer pleaded guilty in August to orchestrating a $1.3 billion real estate Ponzi scheme – which allegedly defrauded more than 7,000 investors – Shapiro’s properties were put into a trust.
In January, five former Shapiro properties sold for a total of $69.1 million. Among them was the Carla House, a 20,500-square-foot Beverly Hills home designed by Noah Walker, which sold for $35 million.
The others included 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.
Last year, the SEC ordered Shapiro and his subsidiary companies to pay back $1 billion for operating the Ponzi scheme.
Federal authorities said Shapiro misappropriated $36 million in investor money, lavishing family and friends with luxury travel, cars and homes. Officials said he spent $3.1 million chartering private planes, $6.7 million on a home, $2.6 million on home renovations, over $650,000 on luxury automobiles, among other personal expenditures.
The scheme eventually collapsed when his web of companies couldn’t repay interest payments to investors.
Shapiro — who owes the Security and Exchange Commission $120 million as part of a civil settlement — was sentenced to a 25-year prison term.
The famed Owlwood Estate, the crown jewel in Shapiro’s portfolio, was re-listed for sale in the summer, with an asking price of $115 million.