A luxury penthouse at the One57 tower in New York formerly owned by controversial Nigerian oilman Kola Aluko now has a new owner.
According to a report by Curbed, the 79th floor apartment at the swanky tower recently sold for $36 million at a foreclosure auction to a mysterious buyer.
Aluko, who is accused by the U.S. of bribing a former government official to secure lucrative contracts with Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, purchased the apartment in 2014 for $51 million. He subsequently defaulted on mortgage and tax payments on the property, and was named as a major suspect in a money-laundering investigation.
The Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland which issued the mortgage on the One57 apartment had initially planned to put the apartment up for auction in July, but foreclosure proceedings were delayed after another one of Kola Aluko’s creditors came forward and claimed the Nigerian oilman owed it about $83 million for gasoline and jet fuel. The bank attempted to sell the property in September for $39 million but there were no takers, so it was put back on the auction block.
Kola is currently wanted in Nigeria for financial and economic crimes but he is still at large.