Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos caused a stir when he recently swanned into Chelsea’s Walker Tower surrounded by security.
Residents gossiped that the richest person in the world was apartment shopping at the Ralph Thomas Walker-designed Art Deco gem, which has an entire top-floor penthouse on the market for $35 million.
The pad is reportedly for sale after its owner, Emirati businessman Khadem al-Qubaisi, was accused of purchasing it with the proceeds from an international money-laundering scandal now under investigation by the feds.
It sold for $50 million in 2014 to al-Qubaisi in an all-cash deal then setting a record for the most expensive home ever sold in downtown Manhattan.
It went back on the market for $70 million in 2015, but the price has been chopped numerous times.
Also for sale in the West 18th Street building, without a scandal attached, is Kayak CEO Steve Hafner’s $28 million 18th-floor duplex.
Bezos already owns four adjoining apartments, estimated to be worth more than $60 million, at even more high-end 25 Central Park West.
Amazon just announced it doubled its profit in the first quarter of 2019, so we guess Bezos can buy whatever he wants.
