You would not want to be the realtor giving this spiel: “The house was built in 1931, it sits on over two acres of land, and it’s down the road from the Hotel Bel-Air. What’s that? Who was the previous owner, you ask?”
As it happens, the Mediterranean villa-style mansion currently repped by someone with Coldwell Banker Realty belongs to Ibrahim bin Laden, the older half-brother of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the New York Post reported.
Family patriarch Mohammad bin Laden had 56 children and 22 wives (four at a time), and Ibrahim and Osama were sons number 15 and 17. Their relationship growing up, if any, is murky, though one might imagine they played Jacks or something. Ibrahim bought the house in 1983 for $1.65 million, which translates to approximately $5.5 million today.
Ibrahim has not lived at the residence in 20 years. On September 11, 2001, he was “vacationing abroad” and never returned. While the property is listed as “abandoned” (and the valuation is based on the land only) the Post notes that the palm trees have endured and the swimming pool is mysteriously well-maintained. You can scroll through a gallery of pics on Realtor.com. The house has a pink hue, seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, and is a total of 7,100 square feet.
The home was once owned by Arthur Freed, producer of the Hollywood classics Meet Me In St. Louis, On The Town, Singin’ In The Rain, and The Bandwagon. He was also an uncredited associate producer on The Wizard of Oz and won best picture Academy Awards for An American in Paris and Gigi.
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