L.A. home linked to Paul Manafort’s former son-in-law and Dustin Hoffman sells for $5.2 million
A Hollywood Hills West home that was at the center of a failed investment and subsequent legal dispute between Jeffrey Yohai, a real estate developer and former son-in-law of Paul Manafort, and actor Dustin Hoffman has sold again for $5.2 million.
The three-story home — perched on a hillside in a celebrity-popular area defined by its use of bird names for streets — was purchased by a Yohai-controlled company three years ago for $7.5 million, records show.
The developer had planned to raze the 3,056-square-foot house to build a multimillion-dollar mansion in its place. Hoffman, a two-time Oscar winner, and his son, actor Jacob Hoffman, invested $3 million in the proposed development, The Times previously reported.
But after the Yohai-controlled company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016, the entity the Hoffmans used to invest in the development successfully petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court last year to convert the Chapter 11 case to a Chapter 7 liquidation, a move that allowed for the appointment of a trustee to facilitate a sale.
In December, the quarter-acre property was sold by a trustee at auction to a real estate fund operated by investment banking firm Genesis Capital for $5 million, real estate records show.
The home returned to market in January for nearly $7 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. More recently, it was listed for $5.199 million.
Joshua and Matthew Altman, the Altman brothers of Douglas Elliman, held the recent listing for the Hollywood Hills home. Nicholas Mortland, also with Douglas Elliman, represented the buyer, an entity controlled by San Jose-based real estate investment company Sridhar Equities.
Yohai was married to Jessica Manafort, daughter of the former chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The couple reportedly divorced last year.
Paul Manafort and his family are among others to have backed companies controlling Yohai’s L.A. real estate ventures — all of which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016 after Yohai defaulted on loans. On Tuesday, a federal jury convicted Manafort of eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud.
neal.leitereg@latimes.com | Twitter: @LATHotProperty
