‘Mystery man’ who foreclosed $50.9m Billionaire's Row penthouse revealed- He's Nigerian billionaire Kola Aluko

I will post it here exactly as I saw it on New York
Times




Nigerian playboy Kolawole “Kola” Aluko is
the owner of the 79th-floor penthouse at
the One57 tower on “Billionaires’ Row” —
it’s a swanky pad that could become the
biggest residential foreclosure in New York
history, The Post has learned.
The 48-year-old energy tycoon — who is
pals with Jay Z, Beyoncé and Naomi
Campbell — hasn’t been paying his bills
on the $50.9 million luxury condo, and a
European bank is forcing a sale next
month.
The Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland, which
issued a $35.3 million mortgage on the 6,240-
square-foot spread at 157 E. 57th St., has listed
as collateral Aluko’s 213-foot yacht, the Galactica
Star, and is looking to collect what it’s owed plus
interest, court documents show.
On top of the unpaid mortgage that came due last
fall, Aluko also has been racking up maintenance
fees and taxes on the property. He has not been
seen for some time, prompting speculation that
he is hiding out on the Galactica Star.
The boat — which Aluko rented to Jay Z and
Beyoncé in 2015 for $900,000 a week — was last
registered in Freeport, the Bahamas, on May 3,
but is currently “out of range,” yacht trackers
said.
According to sources, Aluko did appear with the
yacht at the ill-fated Ja Rule Fyre Festival music
event in the Bahamas in late April. Prior to that,
the Galactica Star left Cabo last year and was
briefly berthed in Turkey, records show. Aluko is
close pals with Leonardo DiCaprio, and partied
with the Oscar winner at his birthday in New York
in 2013. Reps for Aluko confirmed at the time that
he had made a large donation to DiCaprio’s
environmental charity.
Lately, Aluko has been dodging Nigerian
authorities, who in February tried to freeze his
assets including the apartment as part of a
money-laundering probe. Aluko, who claims
Switzerland as his residence, was among those
who allegedly obtained lucrative contracts from
Nigeria’s former oil minister, who has also been
accused in a $1.76 billion scheme to defraud the
government of oil sale profits that both have
denied.
The alleged plot may have parked the money in
assets around the world, including jets,
automobiles and pricey real estate in London,
Sweden, Dubai, New York and California. Aluko
has been busy flipping many of the expensive
properties he’s bought.
In Montecito, Calif., Gwyneth Paltrow paid Aluko
an undermarket $4.9 million for a 2.4-acre estate
that was equipped with a massive pool. In 2012,
Aluko paid $14.7 million for an 11,478-square-
foot manse in Beverly Hills that was rented to
Ariana Grande.
The singer had to leave when Aluko sold it for
just $13 million in 2016.
More recently, a shell company controlled by
Aluko has been trying to unload an apartment at
1049 Fifth Ave., which it bought for $8.5 million
in 2013. The apartment, whose two combined
units boast four bedrooms and four bathrooms, a
maid’s apartment and two storage units, has liens
on it of more than $20,000, and it owes $61,000
in taxes to the city as of July 1.
Luxury skyscraper One57, built by real estate
mogul Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, holds
the sales record for a full-floor apartment, with
one unit that sold for $100.5 million. But with
lots of competition from new Billionaires’ Row
towers, including 432 Park Ave., it has become
harder to sell and rent mega-priced condos.