Jeff Bezos’ neighbor claims his real estate agent defrauded him. Experts say he has a case.

While the $79 million Bezos paid for his neighbor’s Indian Creek Island home last 12 months wasn’t a pittance, it was still $6 million lower than the asking price of his neighbor Leo Kryss. When Kryss heard the news that Bezos had bought the home round the corner, he asked brokers, including his agent Douglas Elliman, if Bezos was the one who desired to buy his home anonymously, in line with a lawsuit filed within the eleventh Judicial District in Miami-Dade County.

Bezos bought his first home on the exclusive Indian Creek Island in June 2023 for $68 million after announcing he would move to Miami from his longtime home in Seattle, where Amazon’s headquarters are. He later bought Kryss’ house round the corner, and earlier this 12 months the second richest man a 3rd adjoining property for $90 million.

Kryss, co-founder of Brazilian toy and electronics company Tectoy, said he would have asked for more if Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida region, had not told him directly that Bezos was not behind the sale and that the “potential buyer,” who Parker said was not Bezos, wouldn’t pay greater than $79 million, the lawsuit says.

The undeniable fact that Douglas Elliman’s Florida regional CEO called Kryss to inform him directly that it was not Bezos who made the $79 million offer gives his case foundation, said New York corporate lawyer Alton Harmon. Assets.

“The problem arises when you actually say something like, ‘That’s not Bezos, the broker should never have said that,’ because at that point there is the possibility of negligent misrepresentation,” Harmon said.

Douglas Elliman declined to comment Assets.

To add one other twist to the case, Parker told Kryss that Indian Creek Mayor Benny Klepach said someone in his family had made the offer on Kryss’s house, in line with an email attached to the criticism. Klepach’s daughter, Celine Klepach, had joined Douglas Elliman as a sales associate just weeks before the sale and received a commission on the sale. She now not works for the broker, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Because Douglas Elliman acted as transaction broker, it had no fiduciary duty to Kryss; Florida LawThe broker must nevertheless exercise “expertise, care and diligence in the transaction” and disclose all facts that significantly affect the worth of the property and are usually not readily apparent to the customer.

Parker has the responsibility to research whether Klepach’s alleged statements are true or not, Harmon said.

Although the duty to reveal material facts normally applies to things related to the property, equivalent to whether there have been recent floods that affected the house, Harmon said by directly asking whether Bezos was behind the offer, one could argue that his involvement was material.

“By asking this very, very specific question, ‘Is this Jeff Bezos, because I know he bought the property next door?’, I think it became a material fact that affected the value of the property. So I think that’s a creative approach,” he said.

Anat Alon-Beck, a law professor who teaches corporate law and contracts at Case Western Reserve University, said Assets Knowing that Bezos was behind the sale could have prompted Kryss to supply the property at a better price since the Amazon founder valued it more highly.

“Price is always what it means to the buyer – how much are you willing to pay for something? But since the seller doesn’t know exactly who the buyer is, he can’t really negotiate with them,” Alon-Beck said.

Kryss is suing Douglas Elliman for greater than $750,000 in damages, claiming the broker breached its contractual duties and obligations under Florida law. Kryss can also be asking Douglas Elliman to forfeit the $3.16 million commission he received on the deal. Bezos was not named as a defendant within the suit.

While Kryss is demanding a jury trial, Douglas Elliman has filed a motion to dismiss the case. Ultimately, Alon-Beck said, the parties will likely settle the dispute out of court.

“Douglas Elliman failed in its duties to our client. The facts set forth in our complaint speak for themselves; they knew or should have known who the ultimate purchaser was and misrepresented this very important fact to our client. We have no further comments other than those set forth in the complaint we filed on behalf of our client,” Kryss’s attorney said in a press release.