(NEW YORK) Helmut Kiener, the K1 Group hedge- fund founder under arrest in Germany on suspicion of fraud, is seeking to sell his oceanfront home in Delray Beach, Florida, for US$23 million to repay investors, people briefed on the matter said.
Kiener owns the 14,000 square-foot house through Miami-based Consistent Income LLC, whose managing member is Stefan Seuss, the people said, speaking anonymously because the probe isn't complete. Seuss was arrested in Miami this week in a Federal Bureau of Investigation money-laundering sting and is tied to an international probe of Kiener, people familiar with the matter have said. A Cayman Islands' liquidator is selling the property, said the people, who declined to provide details about the investors.
'They are not going to get US$23 million,' said Sandra Strickland, an independent realtor in Delray Beach, about 80 kilometres north of Miami, as she stood outside the house last week.
'Right now, we are mostly flooded with US$200,000 and under properties,' said Ms Strickland, who estimated it's worth about US$12 million.
The three-story Georgian-style home, put on sale in May, features several chandeliers, including one above an oval bath tub, a two-story wood-panelled library and 'exotic marble and onyx throughout', according to the home's listing on the website of Premier Estate Properties. The master bedroom occupies a wing of the first of three floors.
The 'lavishly scaled yet eminently inviting' estate has a movie theatre equipped with two rows of four leather recliners, a wine cellar and a home gym with at least five televisions hung from the ceiling, according to Premier Estate Properties. It includes a security system with multiple cameras and fingerprint access.
An outdoor-entertainment area features a pool, hot tub, summer kitchen and bar, as well as an 'outdoor amphitheatre' that includes 12 speakers and two 103-inch all-weather flat screen televisions that are stored underground and rise when needed.
The palm-tree dotted property also includes an additional lot that provides deepwater access and 'protected yacht dockage'. Kiener's German lawyer, Lutz Libbertz, said that he didn't know what properties Kiener owned in the US.
K1 Group is at the centre of a criminal investigation after saddling banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Societe Generale SA, with about US$400 million of losses, people with knowledge of the probe said. European and US authorities are investigating whether K1, which manages funds of hedge funds, deceived the banks while seeking money to ratchet up its investments.
Kiener may have duped Barclays plc out of as much as US$220 million and BNP Paribas SA out of US$60 million, according to the warrant for his arrest. Funds were diverted through a network of Cayman Island-based companies, the warrant for Kiener's arrest shows. The money was used to acquire two airplanes and a helicopter, and some money was allegedly also channelled to acquire two properties in Miami, helping Kiener support a 'luxury lifestyle', the warrant said.
The Kiener property was purchased by Consistent Income in March 2007 for US$19 million in cash, according to Ms Strickland, who cited property records. It had an appraised value of US$14.6 million in 2008, according to the records.
Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties said that he's shown the house 'a few times'. He said that the owner, whom he wouldn't identify, wants only prospective buyers to tour the house. - Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 3 Nov 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment