Paul Mitchell hair product founder John Paul DeJoria, a self-made billionaire, wants to own a piece of the former Versace mansion in South Beach.
DeJoria is seeking to buy into Casa Casuarina LLC, the company that owns the Versace mansion. Attorneys for the company filed papers Tuesday in federal court, saying DeJoria is ready to offer $100,000 to close the deal.
The federal government had seized 9.9 percent of Casa Casuarina owned by former attorney Scott Rothstein, after Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme was exposed in October of 2009. The mansion reopened last year as a boutique luxury hotel, restaurant and event space, called Villa by Barton G. The other owner of the mansion is former telecom executive Peter Loftin.
Two weeks ago, the government filed a notice saying it would abandon its interest in the property, because it considered its claim worthless. The mansion is subject to a mortgage and other claims that exceed its current value, so a forced sale of the property would yield nothing at this time.
But, Adam Steinberg, an attorney for Loftin, said DeJoria is willing to pay the government $100,000 for its claim on the property. That money would ostensibly be used to help pay the victims of Rothstein’s crime.
“At the end of the day, we wanted to let the court know about this fantastic offer,” Steinberg said. “The Rothstein stain has been cleaned up now. Mr. DeJoria has been interested in the property for quite some time.”
Source: Biz Journals
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