A Florida real-estate developer said he is going to tear down the Palm Beach mansion of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after purchasing the waterfront property from his estate, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Todd Michael Glaser, who is known for building spec mansions, said he intends to replace the mansion with a 14,000-square-foot Art Moderne home after the deal is scheduled to close next month, commenting that “Palm Beach is going to be very happy that [Epstein’s home] is gone.”
The home played a major role in Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking schemes, according to prosecutors, who said he enticed and recruited underage girls to go there to engage in sex acts.
Glaser did not disclose what he paid for the property, other than to say it was at a discount from the $21.995 million asking price when it was put on the market in July.
Someone else close to the deal said the purchase price was about $18 million.
The property, which has about 170 feet of water frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway, with space for a dock and views of Tarpon and Everglades islands, is about a mile from President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club and a few streets from the Everglades Golf Course.
Epstein purchased the house for $2.5 million in 1990, according to records.