The Sunday January 25th 2009 edition of The New York Times has an article in its Real Estate section entitled Every Man for Himself. This article details how one Richard Murphy in 2007 paid $33 million for the 25-foot-wide town house at 7 East 67th Street.

At the time, this purchase was the highest price on record for an Upper East Side town house built on a standard 25-foot-wide lot. The home has 12,000 square feet of space on seven levels, including the basement. Apparently Mr. Murphy has been considering listing it now for $36 million. "But brokers were skeptical that he would get that price, with one suggesting it might eventually sell for $30 million at most, about 10 percent less than he paid." This story is indicative of how even Manhattan real estate is beginning to sag under the weight of Wall Street layoffs, hedge fund retrenchment and the economic recession.

Toomre Capital Markets LLC ("TCM") took particular note of this story because of the firm Mr. Murphy until very recently worked for: Fairfield Greenwich Group, the "feeder fund" group with the largest exposure to Bernie Madoff's fraudulent investment business. Fairfield Greenwich is reported to have had approximately $7.5 billion invested with Madoff at the time of his arrest. The article notes that Mr. Murphy is listed as one of the defendants, along with other Fairfield Greenwich partners, in lawsuits brought by disgruntled and aggrieved investors.

According to this court document, The New York Times may have gotten Mr. Murphy's first name wrong. The name listed in the lawsuit with other Fairfield Greenwich partners is Charles Murphy, who lives at 202 Round Hill Road in Greenwich, Connecticut — a short distance from 175 Round Hill Road and the home of Fairfield Greenwich Group founder, Walter Noel. Their Fairfield Sentry fund is said to have had substantially all of its approximate $7.2 billion in assets invested with Bernie Madoff.

Walter Noel and his wife Monica are parents to five daughters. The picture in the upper left of this post is from their 2005 Christmas card and show clockwise from the left, Lisina, Corina, Walter, Monica, Ariane, Marisa, and Alix. Each of the five daughters is now married and many of the son-in-laws became involved in Fairfield Greenwich Group business. Four of the five son-in-laws along with Walter Noel are named in the above referenced lawsuit.

Corina, the eldest, married a Columbian named Andres Piedrahita, who became a partner of Fairfield Greenwich. Corina and her husband apparently relocated to London some years ago and subsequently spent considerable time in Spain as well while raising funds from European and Latin American investors. Rumor has it that Andres Piedrahita "may have done something fatally stupid by placing 2x-3x-laundered Columbian Drug Cartel money into the FFG-Madoff sinkhole". The court document referenced above includes Andres Piedrahita as one of the defendants. According to that document, Mr. Piedrahita is being represented by Andrew Levander, the same lawyer who also happens to be representing Ezra Merkin and his "feeder funds" in lawsuits by other distraught Madoff investors.

The second daughter, Lisina Noel, lives with her husband, Italian-born Yanko Della Schiava, in Lugano, Switzerland, where he "markets F.G.G.'s offshore funds throughout Southern Europe," according to Fairfield Greenwich Group's website. Della Schiava formerly worked as vice-president of Sisan, his family's textile business in Milan, according to the couple's New York Times wedding announcement. He graduated from Aiglon College in Villars, Switzerland. His mother, Patrizia Della Schiava, is the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine of Italy. His father is the editor and publisher of Harper's Bazaar of Italy and France. Mr. Della Schiava also is named in the above referenced court document although his legal representative is not yet clear.

The third of Mr. Noel's daughters, Ariane, lives in London on one of the smartest streets in Notting Hill with her husband Marco Sodi. Mr. Sodi is described as a 'star deal-maker' who heads the London office of the American private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

After spending several years in Switzerland, Alix, moved back to Greenwich a couple of years ago with her husband and children. "I love New York," the Brown graduate told Town and Country in 2007. "But here I can get as much of a New York fix as I want and still give my children a healthy, outdoorsy life." Her husband, Philip J. Toub, is the son of a Swiss shipping magnate and a member of the executive committee at Fairfield Greenwich, where he markets FGG's offshore funds and assists in the development of new products, according to the firm's website.

Philip Toub also is the younger brother of socialite Veronica Toub, who was engaged to Arpad ("Arki") Busson in the 1980s, before Busson made babies with Elle Macpherson. Busson's $11.5 billion stake in hedge funds apparently had about $230 million invested with Madoff. "Toub was nothing more than a party promoter in the '90s before he married into the Noel family business," said one source told New York Magazine. Mr. Toub also now has been named in the above referenced lawsuit and apparently is being represented by Mark Cuhna of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

According to New York Magazine, "Marisa Noel Brown, tall, blonde, and beautiful, seamlessly combines the American vitality of her birthplace and the South American sophistication of her heritage," Hamptons Style magazine gushed two years ago, after the 31-year-old Harvard grad and her husband, Matthew Brown, purchased a $9.4 million Stanford White house near Lake Agawam. "She embodies a lifestyle most aspire to, complete with a happy marriage, a beautiful baby, another on the way, and a solid family." The couple apparently maintain their primary residence in Soho, the article went on to note, as "Matt's appreciation for his city runs deep: His great-great-grandfather, Henry Collins Brown, founded the Museum of the City of New York and the couple is active in the charity New Yorkers for Children." Mr. Brown too went on to work at the family firm, Fairfield Greenwich Group. He also is a defendant in the above referenced lawsuit and apparently likewise is being represented by Mark Cuhna of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

As a former resident of Greenwich, Lars Toomre has had a continuing interest in Greenwich real estate. He remembers well driving on Round Hill Road, one of the toniest roads in that town. Christopher Fountain and his blog For What It's Worth is an excellent resource both for what is going on with Greenwich real estate and details on the Walter Noel/Fairfield Greenwich portion of the Madoff scandal. Christopher's coverage of both topics has been excellent. Lars suspects in the months to come Christopher will be sharing more details of other Fairfield Greenwich employees who might need to make certain rushed real estate transactions.

Reader thoughts and comments are welcome.