It reads like the plot of a movie.
Two brothers-in-law who schemed investors out of $96 million in order to acquire a beachfront property — by the name of the Panoramic View — in the Hamptons. Turns out that the hero of this story might just be the soaring values of real estate in the area.
Investors who were duped by con men Brian Callahan and Adam Manson’s Ponzi scheme might be able to get some of their money back, the New York Times reported. The government is now in charge of selling the valuable property. Callahan and Manson were arrested two years ago.
Callahan and Manson invested a big chunk of the cash into the property and was also operational as a hotel.
Ziel Feldman‘s HFZ Capital Group and BSG Real Estate were interested in buying the property in 2012 and offered $50 million in cash. Manson and Callahan didn’t accept, saying the offer was too low. A $54 million deal that the developers and the government struck in 2013 was rejected by a judge.
The property hit the market again in June and the government is still looking for the highest bidder. [NYT] — Claire Moses