Europe 1 with AFP 5:07 p.m., February 5, 2024
The luxurious Château de la Garoupe, located in Antibes and confiscated from Russian businessman Boris Berezovski, who died in 2013, was sold for the benefit of the French state. According to our colleagues from “Nice-Matin”, the property was bought by the co-founder of the WhatsApp application for an amount of 65 million euros.
A golden sale. The Château de la Garoupe, located at Cap d'Antibes, confiscated from the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovski, who died in 2013, was sold to the French state. The Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Agrasc) did not want to communicate about this sale and the new owner. But, according to
Nice-Matin
, the new buyer is Jan Koum, born in Ukraine and co-founder of the WhatsApp application, for the tidy sum of 65 million euros.
Composed of a mansion, swimming pool and ten hectares of park
The castle benefits from an exceptional location on the Côte d'Azur with a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean. Built for an English Lord in 1907, this property has seen several great personalities pass through its doors, including the Spanish painter Picasso and the American writer Hemingway. It consists of a mansion as well as five other buildings, all bordered by a ten-hectare landscaped park housing a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a tennis court.
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Up for sale since June 2023, this building was confiscated in 2015 by the courts as the proceeds of an aggravated money laundering offense committed by an investment company (Sifi) and its manager, Jean-Louis Bordes, considered to be forgeries -nose of Boris Berezovsky.