Debbie Neuberger SVP, Customer Care | realtors.com
Jeff Bezos made headlines last year when he paid $68 million for a 2.8-acre property in Miami’s Indian Creek Village, followed by the purchase of a roughly 19,000-square-foot house next door for $79 million a few months later. This year, he added a third property on the island for $90 million.
Now, Bezos’ Indian Creek homes are in the news again as his second purchase comes under scrutiny.
The seller of the $79 million home is suing real-estate brokerage Douglas Elliman, which handled both sides of the transaction, alleging that the company misled him about the identity of the buyer and cost him $6 million in the process.
Leo Kryss, co-founder of Tectoy, a Brazilian toy and electronics company, paid $28 million for a waterfront property on Indian Creek Island in 2014 through T.A.M. Investments. In May 2023, he listed the seven-bedroom house, which has a wine cellar, library, theater and pool, for $85 million.
The next month, Bezos paid $68 million for a three-bedroom house next door to Kryss’s property. When Kryss received a $79 million offer shortly after that purchase, he asked Elliman if the Amazon.com founder was behind it.
Jay Parker, Elliman’s CEO of Florida region, called Kryss personally to say that Bezos wasn’t the buyer and that the purchaser wouldn’t pay more than $79 million. According to a complaint filed in Miami-Dade County circuit court, Kryss then agreed to sell at a 7.1% discount—only to find out after closing that the purchaser was an entity tied to Bezos.
Kryss is now suing Elliman for what he believes is $6 million forfeited by not realizing Bezos was the buyer. The complaint alleges that “it was highly material to his negotiations and his decision on the ultimate sales price … to know whether Bezos was … attempting to anonymously acquire the home in order to assemble it with adjoining property.”
Elliman received a 4% commission totaling over $3 million from this transaction. Samantha Feld from Elliman stated that they cannot comment on pending litigation.
Bezos couldn’t be reached for comment.
Kryss declined to comment directly but his lawyer Dana Clayton said: “Douglas Elliman failed to fulfill their duties to our client.…They knew or should have known who the ultimate beneficial purchaser was and misrepresented that very important fact.”
After closing, Parker emailed Kryss saying he also hadn’t known who bought it; he believed it was Benny Klepach's family—the mayor of Indian Creek Village who runs duty-free shops across Americas.
In an interesting development mentioned in Kryss' complaint: Celine Klepach joined Elliman weeks before closing and earned commission from this sale. However she said: “I wasn’t involved,” referring further questions towards her lawyer Isaac Mitrani who confirmed: “Celine Klepach did absolutely nothing wrong.”
According Danny Hertzberg from Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker explained many wealthy individuals shield their identities during such purchases fearing sellers would demand higher prices upon knowing their identities.
In February last year Jeff announced moving from Seattle owning more than four bayfront acres now on gated Billionaire Bunker community where residents include Tom Brady Jared Kushner Ivanka Trump among others.
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