Big trim on late Saudi billionaire’s Beverly Hills mansion

A Beverly Hills estate that was owned by late Saudi billionaire Saleh Abdullah Kamel has sold for $24.5 million.

The property, at 72 Beverly Park, is an 11-bedroom, 18-bath mansion that was built for Norman Zada, the founder of adult magazine Perfect 10. The 20,000-square-foot mansion, designed by architect Richard Landry, sits on a nearly seven-acre compound. The property has features such as a tennis court, a lap pool, a separate plunge pool and a 6,100-square-foot guest residence.

The home has been on and off the market for the past few years, with the asking price dropping every time it reappeared. It was offered for sale at its highest asking price of $45 million in May of 2016. The asking price eventually reached $28 million last January. Justin Fierro of Engel and Volkers, one of the agents in charge of the listing, declined to identify the buyer, only saying that there were multiple offers on the property.

Kamel, through an entity called KAM Beverly, LLC, bought the home for $16.5 million in 2010. He reportedly tried to flip the property months after closing, listing it for $25 million in February of 2011, according to Curbed. It was then offered as a $175,000 per month rental in July of 2013, a listing on Zillow shows.

Kamel founded the banking and real estate conglomerate Dallah Albaraka Group. In November of 2017, he was reportedly detained, along with over 200 businessmen and royals, at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh over corruption charges. The anti-corruption sweep, initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reportedly forced detainees into signing away billions of dollars in assets. In 2018, Forbes removed Saleh Abdullah Kamel from its billionaires list because it was unclear which assets he still owned. He died in May of 2020 at the age of 79.