On-the-run billionaire’s posh pad up for sale — for a ‘great value’

             

While a disgraced Nigerian oil-trading billionaire is on the run from authorities, his posh West 57th Street pad is back on the market — at the wholesale price of $39 million.
Kola Aluko is believed to be on his $80 million, 213-foot yacht, the Galactica Star, dodging justice. as his former full-floor home at 157 W. 57th St. hits the market.
“MOTIVATED SELLER!!!” notes the listing. “A once in a lifetime investment opportunity to purchase the last remaining full floor residence at Manhattan’s New Crown Jewel, One 57 Condominium, for a great value!”
Aluko, a hard-partying playboy who used to hang out with Leonardo DiCaprio and once dated Naomi Campbell, bought the sprawling 79th-floor penthouse for $51.9 million in 2014 — but owed taxes and lenders.

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“The home was in foreclosure, but it is now being sold by a third party as an alternative to foreclosure,” said a source close to the property, who added that Aluko “has nothing to do” with the sale, which is being handled by Compass broker Ali H. Jafri.

The four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom unit is a spacious 6,240 square feet and comes with stunning views of Central Park, the Hudson and East rivers, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.

Aluko, who is under investigation for alleged money-laundering crimes in Nigeria and Europe, couldn’t be reached for comment.

A Nigerian court tried to freeze his assets, including the penthouse, in 2014 — but couldn’t find him to serve papers.

While One57 is home to the city’s first and only $100 million condo sale, it never sold out. It was the city’s tallest residential building for a New York minute, until it was surpassed in height with the completion of 432 Park Ave.

                        

This is the second financially troubled unit in the building to have been slated for foreclosure.
As global law enforcement catches up with more folks from foreign countries who allegedly laundered their ill-gotten gains by scooping up homes for cash in New York City trophy buildings, more foreclosures may be on the way, real estate experts tell The Post.
Aluko allegedly made money by bribing Nigeria’s oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in a $1.76 billion scheme to defraud Nigeria of oil sale profits. According to the Justice Department suit, Aluko and a cohort laundered money by buying $144 million in properties, including the penthouse and the yacht.
Aluko was last seen publicly in the Bahamas around the time of the doomed Frye Festival in April


New York Post