Lawyerly Lairs: From A Big House To The Big House And Back Again -- Mel Weiss's $19 Million Mansion
The former king of securities class actions, now out of federal prison, has put his massive mansion up for sale.
The rise and fall of Melvyn Weiss is one of the most dramatic stories within the legal profession. The Bronx-born Weiss, a graduate of NYU Law School, founded Milberg Weiss, which went on to become the nation’s top class-action securities firm. Weiss and his partners became millionaires many times over.
But it turned out that the firm rested on shaky ground. In 2008, Mel Weiss pleaded guilty to participating in a kickback scheme that helped him get clients and cases. Weiss got sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison and had to pay more than $10 million in forfeitures and fines. Milberg Weiss itself had to pay $75 million to settle charges relating to the racketeering conspiracy.
Too bad Weiss had to do prison time. House arrest would have been pretty sweet in his waterfront mansion on Long Island’s Gold Coast, now on the market for $18.8 million….
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As it turns out, Weiss is putting more than just his house on the auction block, as reported by Bloomberg:
Melvyn Weiss, the millionaire class-action attorney who was felled by illegal kickbacks, is selling more than 140 lithographs, etchings and other works of art by Pablo Picasso.
Weiss and his wife, Barbara, have pledged the artwork to the financial services unit of New York-based Sotheby’s, according to a Sept. 23 New York state regulatory filing. Barbara Weiss, in an interview last week, said the couple planned to put the art up for auction.
The news of Weiss’s house going on sale was reported by the American Lawyer. Weiss told Am Law, “I’m going to be 80 years old — I’m downsizing.”
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There’s a lot to downsize from; according to the listing, the house sits on five acres and boasts 7 bedrooms, 8.5 baths, and more than 12,000 square feet of living space. Here’s the facade:
But I actually think the house looks more impressive from other angles….
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