A prominent Ukrainian tycoon and cultural figure has found a buyer for a splashy Malibu pad.
The property, located at 21808 Pacific Coast Highway — on the famed stretch of sand known as “Billionaire’s Beach” — went into contract on Friday, according to listing sites. It had most recently been listed at $50 million.
The price of the pending sale was unclear, but anything approaching the $50 million listing figure would represent a major score for seller Vadim Shulman, a Ukrainian national who ranks among the country’s most influential oligarchs.
Cooper Mount, a broker with The Agency who had the listing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shulman bought the property for $25 million in 2014, according to property records, and had previously listed it for $44 million in 2019.
In a neighborhood full of luxury properties, the six-bedroom, 9,500-square-foot PCH estate certainly fits in. The two-story, contemporary-style mansion has 150 feet of beach frontage and a nearly 4,000-square-foot deck with a lap pool; other amenities include a movie theater, aquarium accent wall, multiple fireplaces, a wine cellar and the largest home spa ever permitted in Malibu, according to an earlier listing.
Shulman was one of many private citizens who made a fortune after the fall of the Soviet Union. As a young man he trained as a mining engineer, according to media reports; beginning in the early 1990s– as Ukraine, Russia and its other former satellite states grappled with the dissolution of formal links and alliances– Shulman emerged as a powerful businessman, building a portfolio that extends into the mining, chemicals, energy and telecommunications industries, according to a short 2017 profile by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Shulman, who holds Ukrainian, Israeli and Russian citizenship, is also a notable Ukrainian Jewish cultural figure. He has financed various projects in Kiev and Jerusalem, including a synagogue and school, and has served as the chair of the Ukraine Tennis Foundation, according to media reports. In 2011 he was elected president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, an advocacy group. He is a resident of Monaco, news outlets have reported.
In recent years the businessman was also wrapped up in an explosive embezzlement case related to a now-shuttered Pennsylvania steel mill. Shulman accused two of his former friends and business partners, including Ihor Kolomoisky, of defrauding him out of millions. Kolomoisky, among the richest and most powerful men in Ukraine, surfaced as part of the Donald Trump impeachment scandal and last year faced U.S. sanctions over alleged money laundering that stretched into the billions.
Malibu has seen numerous ultra high-end luxury transactions throughout the pandemic. The enclave recorded California’s priciest residential sale ever in October, when the fashion executive Serge Azria sold his mansion to tech investor and entrepreneur Marc Andreessen for $177 million.
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