This place will have to clean very well.
The mystery buyer who snatched Jeffrey Epstein’s upscale home in the Upper East Side for a $ 51 million bargain is a former Goldman Sachs manager who moved from London to New York and plans to live in the house with his wife. living.
Michael D. Daffey bought the seven-story 40-story building on East 71st Street, well below the original $ 88 million original price, and is determined to make sure no trace of its former owner remains.
“They are planning a complete makeover, physically and mentally,” a source said.
The Australian recently retired from the big financial venture after spending the past year as chairman of Goldman’s world markets, which had the upswing of trade in Europe after Brexit – and also after he made a murder on Bitcoin.
“Mr. Daffey has never been in the house before and has never met his owner, but he believes a lot in the future of New York and will take the other side of all the people who say that the city’s best days in can be the past, ”said Staffe Loeser, a spokeswoman for Daffey.
Top realtors tell The Post that the prize was stolen, as any similar property in Manhattan that is not related to one of America’s most perverted sex offenders could easily fetch $ 100 million.
“I think it’s half done,” said top realtor Dolly Lenz, who was among those trying to sell the property. ‘It’s 28,000 square feet. It’s less than $ 4,000 per foot for the most beautiful mansion on the best block, just off Fifth Avenue. It’s the best in New York. ”
Even such an agreement was difficult to tempt many people who could afford the price range.
“We offered it to a lot of people who said, ‘We don’t want to go near that place,'” Lenz said. “Listeners of international people who always want a deal have said ‘No’.”
Sources say that none of Epstein’s old possessions are in the house.
“The house was completely empty,” a source said. “There were no gruesome strange things in there at all.”
Another source said Daffey bought it with cash and a bridge loan.
Adam Modlin, of the Modlin Group, put down both Daffey as well as the Epstein Estate as a broker.
Lenz thought Daffey had made a good real estate decision to buy.
“I think he made a smart move, but it will be a long time before people forget that it was a place where children were abused,” she said. ‘But he’s betting on it in the long run. This is what some people do. ”
The money goes directly to a Jeffrey Epstein Victim Reimbursement Fund, which is controlled by Epstein’s estate.
In 2019, Epstein is found dead in his jail cell awaiting trial for sex crimes abused by girls as young as 14. During an FBI raid, federal agents found that child sexual abuse was the mansion’s safe. The house with 40 rooms is one of the largest in the city.
Epstein and his alleged partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, infamously entertained the rich, royal and powerful in the house, who were wired to secretly take in his guests.
Some who stayed overnight included Prince Andrew. The mansion was previously owned by Epstein’s client, Les Wexner, owner of Victoria’s Secret.
The sale was halted by a request to release more than two dozen alleged victims and Denise George, the U.S. Attorney General’s attorney, to the U.S. Virgin Islands last month, after the Epstein victim’s compensation program said has that the compensation offer be discontinued. on funding issues.
A judge denied the request. The fund has received more than 150 applications from suspected victims so far since it was launched in June, and has so far disbursed $ 55 million to an unknown number of victims.