A toy company founder who sold his $79 million Miami mansion to Jeff Bezos for less than the asking price is now suing his realtor for not disclosing that the Amazon billionaire was the buyer, thereby making him sell at a discount.
Leo Kryss, the co-founder of Tectoy, a Brazilian toy and electronics company, says real-estate brokerage Douglas Elliman misled him and at one point specifically denied that his neighbour, Bezos was the buyer.
Leo Kryss
In May 2023, Kryss listed the luxury, seven-bedroom house in Indian Creek Village - which has a wine cellar, library, theatre and pool - for $85 million.
A month later Bezos spent $68 million on a 2.8-acre property next door. Soon after Kryss received an offer for his home below the asking price.
According to a lawsuit filed in the circuit court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, Kryss asked Elliman specifically if Bezos was behind the offer.
Jay Parker, Elliman's CEO for the Florida region, called Kryss personally to say that Bezos was not the buyer and that the purchaser wouldn't pay more than $79 million, WSJ reported. This was later found not to be the case after Kryss had agreed to sell the property at a 7.1 per cent discount.
"In reliance upon Mr Parker's affirmative representations regarding the identity of the potential and ultimate buyer of the home, Kryss was induced to reduce the sale price of the home by millions of dollars," the suit stated.
"But for these misrepresentations and in reliance upon the Broker's duties to deal honestly, fairly, and with due care towards TAM, Kryss would not have reduced the purchase price or sold the Home for $79,000,000."
In the complaint, Kryss said that it was "highly material" to the negotiations and the decision on the eventual sales price to know whether Bezos was "attempting to anonymously acquire the home in order to assemble it with the adjoining property."
The fact that Bezos already owned the property next door made it "significantly more valuable to Bezos than to other potential buyers" the suit stated.
Elliman received a 4 per cent commission on the sale - worth more than $3 million, according to the complaint.
In a statement, Dana Clayton, representing Kryss said: "Douglas Elliman failed to fulfill their duties to our client.
"The facts, as set forth in our complaint, speak for themselves; they knew or should have known who the ultimate beneficial purchaser was and misrepresented that very important fact to our client."
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $750,000 arising from the broker's "breach of contract, breach of its duties and negligent misrepresentations regarding the identity of the potential and ultimate purchaser of the home."
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com founder, is currently the third richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $197.6 billion, according to Forbes.
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