Bernard Madoff leaves Federal Court after a hearing where U.S. prosecutors persuaded a judge to end his house arrest for supposedly violating his bail conditions on January 14, 2009 in New York City. Madoff, who operated a $50 billion Ponzi-scheme, is accused of violating his bail conditions by attempting to hide his assets by mailing out $1 million worth of jewelry while under house arrest in his luxury apartment. (UPI Photo/Monika Graff) |
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MONTAUK, N.Y., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff's beach house on New York's Long Island sold for more than the $8.75 million asking price, the listing broker said Thursday.
The 3,000-square-foot shingled home -- with 182 feet of ocean frontage, four bedrooms, three baths, a double-height great room with a two-story stone fireplace, a deck and a pool -- was put on the market two weeks ago by the U.S. Marshals Service as part of plan to repay victims of the $65 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest investor fraud ever committed by an individual.
Neither the Corcoran Group brokerage nor the Marshals Service would say who bought the property or the exact selling price, The New York Times reported.
The deal should close "in a couple of weeks," agent Joan Hegner told the Times.
"We have fully signed contracts," she said.
A 4-foot tall rusted steel Aztec-style sculpture worth $300 was stolen from the Montauk, N.Y., home's front porch Wednesday, Newsday reported.
Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced June 29 to 150 years in federal prison in North Carolina.
Madoff's investment firm is being liquidated in a U.S. bankruptcy court in New York. The liquidator is suing his biggest investors and beneficiaries, including funds, philanthropists and Madoff's wife Ruth, seeking $14 billion to help repay victims.
The Marshals Service has also listed for sale Madoff's two-story penthouse apartment in New York City, his Palm Beach, Fla., home and his yachts.
