Mogul sues real estate firm for allegedly concealing that Jeff Bezos was the buyer of his $79 million home

Everyone wants to get the highest price when selling a property – this even applies to the super-rich.

Businessman Leo Kryss is suing real estate developer Douglas Elliman over the sale of his Florida mansion for $79 million. The house has seven bedrooms and 11.5 bathrooms and is located in “Miami's most prestigious and exclusive area, Indian Creek Village,” as Kryss calls it in his lawsuit.

In his lawsuit, Kryss claims he asked Douglas Elliman CEO Jay Parker directly whether Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was behind the purchase. Parker allegedly “misleadingly assured Kryss that Bezos was not behind the offer and was not the buyer,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in July in the 11th Judicial District Court in Miami-Dade County.

Parker also claimed in the lawsuit that the buyer would not pay more than $79 million for the house (instead of the list price of $85 million).

Because of this assurance, Kryss reportedly agreed to a $6 million discount on the property, bringing the selling price to $79 million.

“But for these false representations and in reliance on [Parker’s] “Kryss failed in his duty to act honestly, fairly and with due care toward TAM and did not reduce the purchase price or sell the house for $79,000,000,” the lawsuit states. TAM refers to Tendencia Asset Management, the company that negotiated on Kryss' behalf.

Bezos is the second richest person in the world after Elon Musk. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he has a net worth of $202 billion. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Douglas Elliman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A $6 million discount equates to about 0.006 percent of Bezos' net worth.

Leo Kryss, co-founder of Brazilian toy and electronics company Tectoy, bought the property at 12 Indian Creek Island Road in 2014 for $28 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, which previously reported on the lawsuit. Built in 2000, the waterfront property is in a neighborhood considered a haven for the super-rich. Neighbors include Ivanka Trump and Tom Brady, the Miami Herald reports.

It is common for high-value properties to be purchased by trusts or business partnerships on behalf of wealthy individuals whose names may not be known to the real estate agents representing them. The complaint states that a trust handled the purchase of Kryss's mansion on behalf of Bezos.

Kryss speculated that Bezos might be behind the offer for his home because the Amazon founder had previously purchased a property next to his mansion, 11 Indian Creek Island Road, the lawsuit says.

It continued: “Kryss believed that knowing whether Bezos was interested in his home and whether Bezos was attempting to purchase the home anonymously to consolidate it with the adjacent property that Bezos had already purchased was extremely important to his negotiations and his decision on the final sale price of the home.”

Kryss' property “would be significantly more valuable to Bezos than to other potential buyers,” the lawsuit says.