- The seller of Jeff Bezos' $79 million mansion in Miami is suing the real estate brokerage for not revealing Bezos as the buyer.
- The property was initially listed by Leo Kryss for $85 million.
- Kryss claims that withholding Bezos' identity from him cost Kryss $6 million in damages.
Leo Kryss sold Jeff Bezos a $79 million Miami mansion. Now, Kryss is filing a lawsuit because he thinks he could have sold it for more, per a Tuesday Wall Street Journal report.
Kryss, the cofounder of Brazilian toy company Tectoy, had listed his seven-bedroom mansion on Indian Creek Island, Miami, for $85 million in May 2023, Business Insider previously reported. The property included a home theater, wine cellar, library, and pool, and neighbored a $68 million three-bedroom house that Bezos purchased in June 2023.
When Kryss was approached with an offer for the property, he had a sneaking suspicion that his new neighbor was behind the sale. The seller said he heard from Jay Parker, the Florida CEO of real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman, who assured Kryss that the Amazon founder was not the buyer and that they would not pay more than $79 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
After Kryss sold his mansion for $79 million — $6 million below its list price — he learned that the buyer was, in fact, connected to Bezos.
Kryss claimed that knowing Bezos' intention to acquire adjacent properties would have been "highly material" to his decision-making and that it ultimately cost him $6 million, according to a complaint filed in the Miami-Dade County that the Journal viewed. Kryss is suing Douglas Elliman, which received a commission of over $3 million for handling the property sale.
Douglas Elliman's Parker explained in an email to Kryss that he was also unaware of Bezos' identity as the buyer and believed the property was being purchased by the family of Benny Klepach, the mayor of Indian Creek Village, the Journal reported.
Klepach's daughter, Celine, joined Elliman before the sale closed and earned a commission on the property sale. While Celine Klepach has since left the firm, she and her lawyer denied her involvement in the deal, the Journal reported.
It is not uncommon for high-net-worth buyers to conceal their identities to avoid sellers charging higher price markups, Danny Hertzberg, a real-estate agent at Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker, told the Journal.
Indian Creek, also known as "Billionaire Bunker," is an exclusive village on a private island in Miami's Biscayne Bay. It is known for its ultrawealthy residents, including Jeff Bezos, Tom Brady, and Jared Kushner. A total of 41 property lots are wrapped around the Indian Creek Golf Club at the center of the 300-acre island, which doesn't have beach access.
The island was ranked the most expensive neighborhood in the US by Zillow in 2021 and features heavy security, BI reported in 2023. Bezos owns three properties on the island, with the latest purchased in April for $90 million.
Kryss and Douglas Elliman did not respond to requests for comment sent by BI outside business hours.