Mark Madoff’s Nantucket home at 51 Wanoma Way may not be on the market, but a sale is possible.The beach house in Montauk found a buyer quickly, and for more than its list price. Now, as the investigation into the fraud run by Bernard Madoff expands to include his family members, some are wondering what will become of son Mark Madoff’s getaway on Nantucket.
The five-bedroom waterfront home at 51 Wanoma Way is not on the market, Nantucket brokers say, though a sale is entirely possible.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it were listed,” said Gary Winn, a principal with Maury People Sotheby’s International Realty, who has no connection to the Madoffs.
Mark bought the house for $6.5 million in 2008, just months before Bernie’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme was exposed.
Like in Montauk, where Bernie’s home sold for $9.4 million this fall after being listed for $8.75 million to Steven Roth, the chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, Mark’s Nantucket getaway could probably fetch a premium today, even in a downturn.
With five baths and 6,000 square feet, including guest quarters over a garage, according to property records, the house sits on 3.3 acres in the Tom Nevers section, which has some of the island’s newer mansions. Built in 2003, the compound also features a pool and a private beach staircase.
The $6.5 million purchase price “was certainly a good one at that time,” Winn said. “Plus, waterfront has held its value pretty well” even if those houses are off about 10 percent from the 2006 peak.
And, like in Montauk, notoriety won’t be a problem.
“I don’t think the home would be hurt” by the Madoff name, Winn said.
Mark, 45, has not been indicted for a crime. But in October, Irving Picard, the trustee appointed with recouping money that investors lost, sued Mark and other relatives for $198.74 million that was allegedly swiped from Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to pay for homes, vacations and meals.
In his suit, Picard claims that Mark, a trading director at the firm, improperly received $67 million between 2001 and 2008. The suit also claims that Mark borrowed $17 million from the firm since 2000 to buy homes, including the one on Nantucket, and never paid back the loan, according to a statement.
Mark’s attorney, Martin Flumenbaum, of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the Manhattan law firm, did not return a call for comment.
Mark’s Nantucket house is not his first on the island. Previously, he owned a smaller four-bedroom property at 20 New Lane. That home, which is not on the water, sold for $2.3 million in 2008, according to records.
A longer version of this story originally appeared on TheRealDeal.com.