A controversial healthcare mogul bought a waterfront Bal Harbour house for $9.3 million.
Bent Philipson and his wife, Deborah, bought the 5,800-square-foot home at 148 Bal Bay Drive, according to records.
The previous owners, Robert and Ekaterina Miroshkin, had paid $3.2 million for the house in 2009. It was built in 1958, records show.
The home features five bedrooms, six bathrooms, one half-bath, a pool and an adjacent cabana.
It spent 314 days on the market. It was first listed in October for $10.9 million, and reduced to $10.6 million in December, according to the listing. Lydia Eskenazi with Harding Realty represented the seller. Moshe Goldshtein of Harding Realty represented the buyer.
The Philipsons, of Spring Valley, New York, have ownership stakes in at least six nursing homes in Florida, according to NursingHomeReport.org. In Miami, they have stakes in Golden Glades Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, South Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Harmony Health Center. They also have stakes in Fair Havens Center in Miami Springs and North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in North Miami.
All of those centers have had coronavirus cases. All but Harmony Health Center have reported at least one Covid-19-related death, according to multiple media reports.
The Philipsons bought Fair Haven and Harmony Health from the Esformes family. Philip Esformes was the main defendant in a $1 billion Medicare fraud and money laundering case that gained national attention.
Bent Philipson is also the founder of Philosophy Care Centers, a Long Island-based network of skilled nursing facilities throughout New York and New Jersey, according to the company’s website. He is also a co-founder and partner in SentosaCare, a Webster, New York.-based owner and operator of nursing homes that has a history of fines, violations and complaints for deficient care. In 2017, it was sued in federal court for allegedly treating hundreds of Filipino workers as indentured servants. Last year, a judge ruled Philipson and co-founder Benjamin Landa violated anti-trafficking laws and can be held personally liable in the case, according to Newsday.
Other recent Bal Harbour sales include real estate developer and investor Harry Benitah and his wife selling their Bal Harbour waterfront property for $6.4 million and billionaire Patrick Dovigi, a retired hockey player turned waste management mogul, selling his waterfront Bal Harbour mansion for $23.3 million.