Leo Kryss sold Jeff Bezos a Miami mansion for $79 million. Now Kryss is filing a lawsuit because he believes he could have sold it for more, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Kryss, the co-founder of Brazilian toy company Tectoy, had listed his seven-bedroom mansion on Indian Creek Island, Miami, for sale in May 2023 for $85 million, Business Insider previously reported. The property included a home theater, wine cellar, library and pool, and was adjacent to a $68 million three-bedroom house that Bezos purchased in June 2023.
When Kryss received an offer on the property, he had a sneaking suspicion that his new neighbor was behind the sale. The seller said he had heard from Jay Parker, CEO of Florida 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 the list price – he learned that the buyer actually had ties to Bezos.
Kryss claimed that knowledge of Bezos’ intention to purchase adjacent property was “extremely material” to his decision and that it ultimately cost him $6 million, according to a complaint filed in Miami-Dade County and viewed by the Journal. Kryss is suing Douglas Elliman, which received a commission of more than $3 million for handling the property sale.
Douglas Elliman’s Parker said in an email to Kryss that he, too, did not know the identity of Bezos as the buyer and assumed 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 was completed and earned a commission on the property sale. Although Celine Klepach has since left the firm, she and her attorney denied her involvement in the deal, the Journal reported.
It’s not uncommon for wealthy buyers to keep their identities secret to avoid the seller demanding higher premiums, Danny Hertzberg, a real estate agent with the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker, told the Journal.
Indian Creek, also known as the “Billionaire Bunker,” is an exclusive village on a private island in Miami’s Biscayne Bay. It is known for its super-rich residents, including Jeff Bezos, Tom Brady and Jared Kushner. A total of 41 lots are located around the Indian Creek Golf Club in the center of the 300-acre island, which has no beach access.
The island was ranked the most expensive neighborhood in the U.S. by Zillow in 2021 and has a high level of security, BI reported in 2023. Bezos owns three properties on the island, the last of which was purchased in April for $90 million.
Kryss and Douglas Elliman did not respond to BI’s requests for comment outside business hours.
