Convicted tax evader sells oceanfront Golden Beach home

A convicted tax evader sold his oceanfront Golden Beach home for $7.2 million.

Jack and Rita Barouh sold the three-bedroom, 5,373-square-foot house at 125 Ocean Boulevard to David R. and Lorena Rodriguez of Sunny Isles Beach, property records show. David Rodriguez is president of Sunrise-based Amicus Medical Group.

Jack Barouh was sentenced to 10 months in prison in 2010 for tax evasion. Barouh admitted to hiding about $10 million in bank accounts in Switzerland and Hong Kong in the early 2000s, arguing that he was motivated to do so because of a “hide and hoard” behavior adopted by Holocaust survivors and their families, according to Reuters.

Property records show the Barouhs paid $5 million for the Golden Beach house in 2005. It was built in 1954 on a 21,300-square-foot lot with 75 feet of ocean frontage. The house features a gym, a two-car air-conditioned garage, home office, custom Bulthaup kitchen, master suite and pool.

Jill Hertzberg of The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker represented the buyer and seller, according to Realtor.com. It was listed for $10.4 million in 2018 and was lowered to $7.9 million in March.

Golden Beach, a wealthy town north of Sunny Isles Beach, has attracted buyers who include Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.

In November, Yvonne Gibb, the widow of Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, sold her waterfront Golden Beach home for $5.1 million.

In October, Carl Icahn’s stepdaughter and her husband, an executive at the corporate raider’s investment firm, paid $7.3 million for a new waterfront house at 301 Center Island Drive in Golden Beach.

The Golden Beach estate of the late Sheldon Schlesinger, a noted Fort Lauderdale attorney, and Barbara Schlesinger, a philanthropist and socialite, also sold in October for $19 million.