Kryss claims he was falsely told that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was not the buyer.
A Brazilian businessman claims a real estate agent tricked him into selling his Miami Beach home for $6 million less than its true value to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and is now suing him, according to a lawsuit reported by The Wall Street Journal. Leo Kryss, a co-founder of Brazilian toy and electronics company Tectoy, claims that Douglas Elliman, a real estate firm, told him that a potential buyer for his home in the exclusive Indian Creek Village would pay no more than $79 million. Mr. Kryss had listed the seven-bedroom, 11 1/2-bath, 19,000-square-foot mansion for $85 million.
Now Kryss is suing Elliman for the $6 million he says he forfeited because he didn't know Bezos was the buyer, according to people familiar with the matter. The WSJ.
Kryss' lawsuit, filed in July, alleges that he asked Douglas Elliman CEO Jay Parker if the interested buyer was the world's second-richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Parker allegedly told him that Bezos had nothing to do with it. Kryss later agreed to sell the mansion for $79 million, without knowing that Bezos was indeed the buyer, the complaint said.
The legal dispute highlights the importance of transparency in high-profile real estate deals, with Kryss currently suing them over allegations of fraud by the real estate company.
“Wealthy people often hide their identity throughout the entire process of buying a home, from the initial showing to the closing,” Miami real estate agent Danny Hertzberg told me. WSJ“A lot of billionaires are afraid that they will want a bigger amount of money when they buy a home because the seller knows their identity,” he says.
In February of last year, Bezos announced his move from Seattle to Miami. He now owns more than ten acres of bayfront on Indian Creek Island, a gated community sometimes called the Billionaire Bunker. The island has attracted celebrity residents including Tom Brady, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
