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Mogul sues real estate firm for allegedly hiding Jeff Bezos was purchaser of his $79 million home
Everyone wants to get top dollar in a real estate sale — and that even goes for the extremely rich.
Businessman Leo Kryss is suing real estate company Douglas Elliman over the $79 million sale of his Florida mansion, a 7-bedroom, 11.5-bathroom home located in what his lawsuit calls “the most prestigious and exclusive area in Miami, Indian Creek Village.”
In his lawsuit, Kryss claims he asked Douglas Elliman CEO Jay Parker point-blank if Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was behind the purchase. Parker allegedly “misleadingly assured Kryss that Bezos was not behind the offer and was not the purchaser,” according to the lawsuit, filed in July in the circuit court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
Parker also allegedly asserted that the buyer would not pay more than $79 million for the home, versus the $85 million listing price, the lawsuit claims.
Because of the assurance, Kryss allegedly agreed to discount the property’s price by $6 million, settling on the sale price of $79 million.
“But for these misrepresentations and in reliance upon [Parker’s] duties to deal honestly, fairly, and with due care towards T.A.M., Kryss would not have reduced the purchase price or sold the home for $79,000,000,” the lawsuit claims. T.A.M. refers to Tendencia Asset Management, the company that negotiated on behalf of Kryss.
Bezos is the world’s second richest person behind Elon Musk, with a net worth of $202 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Douglas Elliman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
A discount of $6 million represents about 0.006% of Bezos’s net worth.
Leo Kryss, the co-founder of Brazilian toy and electronics company Tectoy, bought the property at 12 Indian Creek Island Road for $28 million in 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported on the lawsuit. The waterfront estate, built in 2000, is located in a neighborhood known as a haven for the ultra-wealthy, with neighbors including Ivanka Trump and Tom Brady, the Miami Herald notes.
It’s common for high-end properties to be bought by trusts or business partnerships on behalf of wealthy individuals, whose names might not be known to the real estate agents representing them. The lawsuit notes that a trust completed the purchase of Kryss’ mansion on behalf of Bezos.
Kryss speculated that Bezos might be behind the offer on his home because the Amazon founder had previously acquired 11 Indian Creek Island Road, a property adjacent to his mansion, the lawsuit notes.
It added, “Kryss believed that it was highly material to his negotiations and his decision on the ultimate sales price of the home to know whether Bezos was interested in his home and if Bezos was attempting to anonymously acquire the home in order to assemble it with the adjoining property that Bezos already purchased.”
Kryss’ property “would be significantly more valuable to Bezos than to other potential buyers,” the lawsuit claims.
Tupperware and some of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the once-iconic food container maker said in a statement late Tuesday.
The company has suffered from dwindling sales following a surprise surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, when legions of people stuck at home tried their hands at cooking, which increased demand for Tupperware’s colorful plastic containers with flexible airtight seals.
A post-pandemic rise in costs of raw materials and shipping, along with higher wages, also hurt Tupperware’s bottom line.
Last year, it warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating in light of its poor financial position.
“Over the last several years, the Company’s financial position has been severely impacted by the challenging macroeconomic environment,” president and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing.
“As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward,” Goldman said.
The company said it would seek court approval for a sale process for the business to protect its brand and “further advance Tupperware’s transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.”
The Orlando, Florida-based firm said it would also seek approval to continue operating during the bankruptcy proceedings and would continue to pay its employees and suppliers.
“We plan to continue serving our valued customers with the high-quality products they love and trust throughout this process,” Goldman said.
The firm’s shares were trading at $0.5099 Monday, well down from $2.55 in December last year.
Tupperware said it had implemented a strategic plan to modernize its operations and drive efficiencies to ignite growth following the appointment of a new management team last year.
“The Company has made significant progress and intends to continue this important transformation work.”
In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Tupperware listed assets of between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion.
The filing also said it had between 50,000 and 100,000 creditors.
Tupperware lost popularity with consumers in recent years and an initiative to gain distribution through big-box chain Target failed to reverse its fortunes.
The company’s roots date to 1946, when chemist Earl Tupper “had a spark of inspiration while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression,” according to Tupperware’s website.
“If he could design an airtight seal for plastic storage containers, like those on a paint can, he could help war-weary families save money on costly food waste.”
Over time, Tupper’s containers became popular that many people referred to any plastic food container as Tupperware. And people even threw “Tupperware parties” in their homes to sell the containers to friends and neighbors.
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