The former Berezovski castle on the Côte d'Azur, sold for the benefit of the State

The luxurious Château de la Garoupe, located on the Côte d'Azur and confiscated from Russian businessman Boris Berezovski, who died in 2013, was sold for the benefit of the French state, we learned on Monday 5 February to the public agency in charge of the file.

For reasons of confidentiality, the Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Agrasc) did not communicate either the amount of the sale or the identity of the buyer.

According to the daily Nice-Matin, the new owner of this coveted domain is Jan Koum, co-founder of the WhatsApp application, born in Ukraine and based in the United States since the age of 16.

Still according to Nice-Matin, the American billionaire, whose megayacht Moonrise anchored all summer on the Côte d'Azur, spent nearly 65 million euros, which would represent one of the best sales of the Agrasc since its creation in 2010.

In addition to its privileged position at Cap d'Antibes, with a breathtaking view of the sea, the Château de la Garoupe, built in 1907 for an English Lord, also has the privilege of having hosted Pablo Picasso or Ernest Hemingway.

When it was announced for sale in June 2023, Agrasc described the estate as containing a mansion as well as five other buildings, all in a 10-hectare landscaped park with swimming pool, jacuzzi and tennis court. .

The Château de la Garoupe had been confiscated 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 as fake noses of Boris Berezovski.

French justice, requested by Russia, had taken more than 10 years to unravel an intertwining of companies and trace the flows of money used to acquire the castle, via the company Sifi, in 1996. Since the visits of the imperial family in the mid-XNUMXth century, the Côte d'Azur is very popular with Russians and in particular the nouveau riche who acquired properties there after the fall of the USSR.

Boris Yeltsin's eminence grise, who fell into disgrace when Vladimir Putin came to power, Boris Berezovsky was exiled to London where he became a fierce opponent of the Kremlin. In March 2013, he was found hanged, in circumstances that remained unclear.