Disgraced hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is serving his federal prison sentence, sold one of his waterfront Star Island mansions for $55 million
Property records show Combs’ 1 West Star Island LLC sold the nearly 8,000-square-foot estate at 1 Star Island Drive to JFStar LLC, a Newport News-based company led by John A. Franklin of Virginia Beach.
A company linked to him paid $35 million for the six-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bathroom house, which sits near the entrance to Star Island. The bayfront 1.3-acre lot has 240 feet of water frontage, a pool and spa, and a dock. It features a two-story home and a guest house. The complex was built in 1940 and expanded in 1995.
Music power couple Gloria and Emilio Estefan sold the property to Combs in 2021. It was considered their guest house on Star Island, where they also own a larger estate.
The latest sale appears to be an off-market deal. The buyer financed the purchase with an $18.5 million mortgage from San Diego-based Axos Bank.
Combs still owns his main estate next door at 2 Star Island Drive, according to property records.
Last summer, a federal jury in New York found Combs guilty on charges of transportation to engage in prostitution and not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. Combs is serving his four-year sentence at a low-security prison in New Jersey. After his trial, part of Combs’ legal team joined former broker Oren Alexander’s defense team for his and his brothers’ sex trafficking trial, where the Alexanders were found guilty on all charges earlier this year.
Star Island, with about 30 homes, has been home to a number of celebrities. The Miami Beach island experienced turnover shortly after the pandemic began, including to billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who now controls about 6.5 acres of contiguous land on the island.
Last year, billionaire developer Vlad Doronin sold his estate on the island for $120 million, a record at the time for home sales in Miami-Dade County. And in the fall, billionaire Russell Weiner paid $35.3 million for the 1.1-acre property at 43 Star Island Drive, which previously belonged to former talk show host and comedian Rosie O’Donnell.
In March, rapper Rick Ross boosted the mortgage on his Star Island estate to $35 million, three years after he bought the property for $35 million. At the time of his purchase, Combs gifted him a golf cart, according to a post on Instagram.
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