Bernie Madoff mansion on market again with US$21m asking price

Washington

AFTER the disgraced American financier Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2008, the US Marshals Service seized all of his family's assets, which included a relatively modest 3,000 square-foot beachfront home in Montauk, New York, on the easternmost tip of Long Island.

After a relatively brief time on the market - particularly given the glut of available properties during that period, thanks to the ongoing financial crisis - the house sold for US$9.41 million in October 2009 to Steven Roth and his wife.

Mr Roth is the chairman and chief executive officer of Vornado Realty Trust, while his wife Daryl is a Broadway producer. The proceeds of the sale went to help pay back Mr Madoff's victims. Mr Roth renovated the house with the help of interior architect and designer Thierry Despont.

Less than a decade after purchasing it, the couple has put it on the market for US$21 million.

The three-bedroom, three-bath house sits on 1.5 acres almost directly on the beach, accessed via a paved drive, with 180 feet of Atlantic frontage.

In a 2013 article about the home's renovation in Architectural Digest, Mrs Daryl Roth is quoted as saying that it's "right on the sand".

The ground floor has a big, lofted living room with ocean views, a large eat-in kitchen, and two bedrooms that share a bathroom.

The second floor has a smaller footprint and is dedicated to the master bedroom, which has its own wooden deck, his and hers half-baths, and two walk-in closets. There's also a pool and a deck spanning the length of the house that is accessible from every ground-floor room.

Mr Despont updated the layout and filled it with furniture and decorations that include a large chandelier by Jeff Zimmerman and a Vladamir Kagan rocking chair tucked into an glass-ringed alcove in the great room.

The furnishings, the listing noted, "could be available separately". The average sales price of luxury homes in the area was US$6.7 million, with 295 sales listed, the report said.

In 2009, sales numbers were half that amount (158), and luxury sales averaged just US$5.36 million.

The Roths are reportedly selling because they own two additional houses in East Hampton, New York. WP