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The Collection of a Discreet Hedge-Funder Has Quietly Become Active Business

When financier Arthur Samberg died in July 2020 at 79, he was best known as the founder of Pequot Capital Management, one of the largest US hedge funds in the early 2000s. But court documents reviewed by ARTnews reveal that, behind the scenes, Samberg and his family were quiet major art collectors, owners of blue-chip works by Jackson Pollock, Constantine Brancusi, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Edward Hopper, among others.

Beginning in February 2021, Samberg’s estate began selling off holdings to select galleries, according to public records filed in New York at the time. Among the works consigned were Jenny Holzer’s Go where people sleep and see if they are safe, a red granite bench first produced in 1983, and an untitled LED sign from 2003, both of which were privately consigned to Hauser & Wirth. Around the same time, the estate also consigned Joyce Pensato’s 2016 painting Flashy Donald to Friedrich Petzel in New York.

Samberg founded Pequot in 1998. By 2001, the firm was reported to be the largest hedge fund in the world, with $15 billion in assets. Only eight years later, Pequot closed following an SEC insider trading probe, Samberg and Pequot agreeing to a settlement that included a $28 million fine and barred him from association with an investment adviser.

Samberg and his wife, Rebecca, were noted philanthropists, particularly for major Jewish organizations and higher education. Though they were noted supporters of organizations like Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Jacob Burns Film Center, and Rebecca served as a trustee at the Katonah Museum of Art in Upstate New York, they never cultivated reputations as cultural patrons in the art world, either as collectors or supporters of major arts institutions. For example, the Sambergs never featured on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list. (A representative from the Katonah Museum of Art did not respond to an ARTnews inquiry.)

The Sambergs’ lack of engagement in the art world and their previously unknown collection may speak to a view of their collecting as investment-minded, rather than driven by the reputational benefits that accrue from ties to museums and living artists. According to a recent survey of high-net-worth collectors published by Art Basel and UBS, only 10 percent of collectors identify as ‘investor’ types.

Meanwhile, as recent industry reports have detailed, the art market appears to have cooled considerably, with transactions at the top being more conservative. That economic environment has increased the necessity for auction houses and other top art trade players to pursue the business of valuable estates. Just last week, the New York Times reported that major auction houses have struggled with a “thinning availability of estates” to draw from, forcing them to dig deeper into private collections for one-off works, and often pricing those works lower to drive competition. Those consignments are typically the subject of tense negotiations. For example, one collector and museum trustee, who asked to remain anonymous, told ARTnews that Sotheby’s specialists had estimated a $6 million Philip Guston painting from 1952 that he’d consigned to an evening sale at a value lower than he believed it was ultimately worth.

Public financial documents filed in New York in 2015[HJ1] show that the Sambergs listed seven works from their private collection that were used as collateral for a loan from Bank of America. The document provides a window into their collection. Works held by the Sambergs at the time included Brancusi’s 1911 sculpture of a head, Sleeping Muse, and Roy Lichtenstein’s 1977 painting Interior with Woman. An edition of the Brancusi sold in 2017 at Christie’s for $57 million, while a 1977 Lichtenstein titled Landscape with Figures sold for $18 million in 2014.

Meanwhile, another work listed in the document, Edward Hopper’s 1945 painting Two Puritans, sold at Christie’s for $11.6 million about a year and half after Samberg’s death, in November 2021. It was partially owned by the auction house, according to a cataloging note published at the time of the sale. The house assumed ownership of the work years earlier, in 2015, when the Sambergs consigned it to a New York evening sale; it failed to sell when offered at an estimate of $20 million–$30 million.

An attorney who worked on the transactions declined an ARTnews request for comment owing to confidentiality. A representative for Hauser & Wirth declined to comment on the status of the estate.

The Paris-based designer has opened her 25th store in the U.S. and 65th one worldwide.

Thirty years after starting her namesake company, Anne Fontaine was understandably reflective before Thursday night’s launch party for her Madison Avenue store.

While guests mingled in the Gabriel Kowalski-designed space, the designer and her cofounder husband Ari Zlotkin detailed future plans and one life-changing experience that left an indelible imprint on Fontaine.

Like many fashion companies, sales were robust last year due to post-shutdown spending, but they have tempered a bit. Anne Fontaine expects this year’s volume to be close to last year’s tally of $60 million, Zlotkin said. Some of last year’s gains were due to opening a Monaco store, relocating stores in Florence and Zurich and a revival in sales in the company’s Paris flagship, he added, adding that the number of high-end travelers from Russia, China and the Middle East have declined in Europe, due to ongoing military and political conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas war.

While there is “a very strong base in America that is still spending,” Zlotkin said the base in Europe is “not that strong.“ However, online sales are doing well, “probably because many people are afraid to go out,” he said. The average in-store sale is about $800 or $850, whereas the average online sale is $600.

The 1,000-square-foot boutique at 723 Madison Avenue is the company’s 25th store in the U.S., and its 65th worldwide, with a Toronto store slated to open next year. The Upper East Side outpost is south of the brand’s former Madison Avenue location, which the couple said had become less trafficked due to pandemic-induced vacancies. When that lease expired and another one opened up near the Hermès store, they took advantage of the opportunity and immediately noticed an uptick in sales due to locals and tourists.

The designer’s signature white shirt continues to sell well, but there is also interest in gowns and other gala-worthy styles, she said. “People want to feel good, have some fun in life and go out wearing a nice silhouette,” Fontaine said. “I had a chance to live with an Indigenous tribe before I studied in France. The decoration of our bodies has been part of our culture for centuries,” she said, adding that tribe members change how they cut their hair and paint their bodies as a way to create a shared experience.

Building domestic sales online and in stores is a priority, since that accounts for 50 percent of the business. Along with a gala collection, the brand has diversified with handbags, shoes and other accessories.

Fontaine’s business model was centered around the white shirt, and was questioned by many, she said. Today, she’s noticed the wardrobe staple surfacing on many designer runways, and said Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is also generating interest in the trend.

“The white shirt is just back, back, back,” she said.

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, the designer moved to Paris as a 17-year-old to study biology and, three years later, met her husband through a mutual friend. They started a relationship and a month later, started working together.

Nature and fashion have been her two constant passions. Anne Fontaine was started in 1993 with a small shop in Paris that specialized solely in crisp white shirts that were manufactured in a factory that Slotkin’s family used. The initial plan was if-it-works-it-works, if not, that’s it, he said.

And it worked from the start.

Dressed in one of her own evening suits with a short skirt and seated on the second floor of her pristine boutique, Fontaine described her six-month stay with the Canela tribe in Amazonia. Although her mother had forbade her from taking a gap year to discover Brazil before going to school in France, she packed up a backpack, climbed out of her bedroom window to join a friend, and called her mother to apologize in advance for her Brazilian travel plans.

That experience is one of the reasons Fontaine created a foundation to help indigenous people in Brazil, who protect the Amazon, and to support reforestation in the country. She first visited a small structure where tribespeople trade goods to try to find a tribe that would allow her to live with them temporarily, and was surprised to see many people wearing soccer club shirts and drinking cachaça, she said. But an intermediary approached her about meeting his chief, who asked the then 17-year-old to come into their tribe.

“It was a long process. I need to write a book about that because it was a beautiful experience,” Fontaine said, adding that living with the tribe taught her the importance of respecting people that you work with. That has carried over to how she runs her business, and the focus on creating a long-lasting, quality product that will prevent any wasted materials, she said.

To that end, the designer said she aways drapes fabrics to avoid cutting and make them reusable. Next season, Fontaine wants to create a collection made entirely of reused materials.

The mother of three daughters said she has always wanted to return to the tribe and hopes to at some point, since she had “a baptism” into the tribe.

She claims the stay became dangerous when someone began to steal the tribe’s resources and said she was abducted at one point and taken from the tribe.

While being transported by helicopter, she said she told her alleged captors that her uncle, who was a high-powered judge in Brazil, knew of her whereabouts. “I said, ‘If you are going to have a young girl eaten by crocodiles, you are going to have trouble. He already knows everything that is happening in that tribe,’” Fontaine said. “Once they put me in jail, I called my uncle and he told me that they were going to let me leave, and then you will need to disappear.”

Once released, the designer said she snuck into the back of a lumber truck, traveling for days across the Amazon.

“After that, my mom said, ‘OK, now you have to do your studies and go to Paris,’” Fontaine said.

That change in direction led to her fashion career, but the designer said she is considering writing a book or possibly a film about her Brazilian adventure.

“Do you know anyone?” she asked.

The store will open in early 2024, Burberry has confirmed.

CHANNEL CROSSING: Burberry is making more moves in Paris, following the opening of its flagship last year on Rue Saint-Honoré, WWD has learned.

Early next year Burberry will open a store at 17 to 19 Avenue Montaigne, Valentino’s former home, and the hoardings are already up.

The Italian brand has since moved up the prestigious thoroughfare to number 35, the former location of the Canadian embassy in Paris.

Burberry, which publishes its interim results on Thursday, declined to reveal further details.

Last year Burberry opened a three-story Paris flagship catty-corner to the massive Dior and Chanel locations. It was an expression of the brand’s upscaling drive — and the first store on the continent to feature its new design concept.

The 8,500-square-foot flagship replaced a previous Burberry unit on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, an extension of the same thoroughfare which has lost some momentum in recent years.

Burberry has been working its way around the world, opening or refurbishing stores with a new and more airy interior concept introduced in 2021 and recently updated by chief creative officer Daniel Lee.

In June the brand reopened its flagship on New Bond Street in London with a focus on the high-end customer and luxury interiors and services that could rival those of a five-star hotel.

The store, located on one of the world’s prime retail strips, had been under refurbishment for two years and reflects a more modern and minimal design concept, which Burberry unveiled in its Knightsbridge store in 2021.

The store concept has been evolving in order to accommodate a bigger focus on accessories and a fresh approach to color and branding by Lee, who made his debut for the brand in February.

The 22,000-square-foot space spans three floors, and is a showcase for British luxury.

The space is bright with wide open floor space and fixtures designed to make the clothing and accessories pop. The design is pared back, and the star of the show is the merchandise.

There are white walls with matching floors, which are interrupted now and again with shiny, Art Deco-style tiles arranged in a checkerboard pattern.

Flashes of color and texture appear across the space in the form of chubby chairs or swirling rugs covered in intense cobalt blue, Burberry’s new color. A soft bouclé sofa is made for lingering, while gold-tinged fixtures add another dash of Art Deco.

Sculptural wood furniture dotted around the space adds a midcentury modern touch.

The ground floor is dedicated to accessories, a primary focus for Burberry.

Lee’s imprint is also on the store’s façade, which was restored in smooth Portland stone, and which is adorned with new, cobalt blue Burberry knight flags.

- Downside risks to US fiscal strength have increased and may no longer be fully offset by the sovereign's unique credit strengths

- US fiscal deficits remain very large- Debt affordability to be significantly weakened, steadily and significantly, to very weak levels v other highly-rated sovereigns

- US long-term local and foreign currency country ceilings remain unchanged at AAA

- Absent policy action globally fiscal strength will decline

- Political polarization exacerbates fiscal risks that govt might not be able to reach consensus on fiscal plan to slow decline in debt affordability

- Affirmation of AAA ratings reflects Moody's view that the US formidable credit strengths continue to preserve the sovereign's credit profile

- Considers US to have significantlhigher capacity to carry a larger debt burden than other sovereigns globally

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Metropolis Snags Big Round For Dealmaking, Electric Hydrogen Powers Up

1. Metropolis, $1.1B, computer vision: Parking startups aren’t usually high on this list, but when they add computer vision to their offering, well, that’s different. Los Angeles-based checkout-free parking startup Metropolis raised $1.7 billion in debt and equity led by Eldridge and 3L Capital. The startup company has raised $1.05 billion through a Series C offering and $650 million of debt financing. The deal was used to take logistics firm SP Plus private in a deal worth approximately $1.5 billion. The deal is the biggest M&A transaction of the year by a VC-backed company, per Crunchbase data. It even beats out Databricks’ purchase of San Francisco-based language models training startup MosaicML for $1.3 billion in June. Metropolis has developed a computer-vision system that enables drivers to park without using a credit card or even cash. Instead, drivers can use the app and enter information such as name and payment method. Metropolis then tracks the car and charges the owner. It can even email a receipt as they’re on their way out of the parking lot. Founded in 2017, the company has now raised $1.9 billion, per Crunchbase.

2. Electric Hydrogen, $380M, energy: Green hydrogen hasn’t always been a favorite among investors, but that may be changing. Earlier this year, Ohmium International raised a $250 million Series C led by TPG Rise Climate. This week, Electric Hydrogen became a unicorn, raising a $380 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation. The round included the likes of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and BP Ventures. Green hydrogen is produced through electrolyzer systems — which are used to split water through electrolysis to create hydrogen and powered by renewable energy. The process can be expensive because of the energy consumed and the equipment needed, but obviously investors are starting to warm to the sector and see a way to make money. Founded in 2021, Natick, Massachusetts-based Electric Hydrogen has raised more than $600 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Headway, $125M, health care: Even before the pandemic, mental health was becoming a primary concern for many people. In June, mental health startup Author Health locked up a $115 million round from General Atlantic and Flare Capital Partners. This week, New York-based Headway raised $125 million in a Series C at a $1 billion valuation, per Reuters. The round was led by Spark Capital. The startup’s platform helps connect patients with therapists who are covered under a user’s insurance. Founded in 2018, the company has now raised more than $225 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Iambic Therapeutics, $100M, biotech: If it seems like a biotech startup always makes it into the top five every week, that’s because one does. This week, Iambic Therapeutics closed a $100 million Series B financing co-led by Ascenta Capital and Abingworth. The San Diego-based biotech firm is developing new therapeutics from its generative AI discovery platform, which may explain why Nvidia also was an investor. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $153 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Prins AI, $100M, artificial intelligence: Investors love AI, you may have heard. One of the larger and more interesting AI rounds this week went to Lakewood, Colorado-based Prins AI, which raised a somewhat under-the-radar $100 million Series B led by AAB VC. The startup has developed a platform for creating AI digital identities — or “smart workers” — that can be used in lieu of humans for things such as marketing and training videos, or even broadcast media. The company has offices around the world, including China, and plans to use the fresh cash to enhance its R&D in deep-learning tech for digital identity products. The startup has now raised $132 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Stoke Space, $100M, space: For the second week in a row, spacetech saw a big round. Last week, Sierra Space raised a $290 million Series B. This week, Dallas-based reusable rocket developer Stoke Space raised a $100 million Series B led by Industrious Ventures. The company plans to use the new cash to develop its Nova rocket and new construction at its Cape Canaveral Space Force Station site in Florida. Founded in 2019, the company has raised more than $176 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Mach Industries, $79M, defense: Austin, Texas-based defense tech startup Mach Industries closed a $79 million Series A led by Bedrock Capital at a post-money valuation of $335 million, per TechCrunch. Founded in 2022, the company has raised nearly $85 million, according to Crunchbase.

8. iLink Digital, $75M, software: Redmond, Washington-based software developer iLink Digital raised a $75 million round from private equity firm True North. Founded in 2002, this is the company’s first significant outside investment, per Crunchbase.

9. Stampli, $61M, accounting: Mountain View, California-based Stampli, which makes AI-powered tools to help companies pay bills, raised a $61 million round led by funds managed by Blackstone. Founded in 2015, the company has raised nearly $146 million, according to Crunchbase.

10. Regent Craft, $60M, electric vehicle: Rhode Island-based Regent Craft, a manufacturer of all-electric seagliders, locked up a $60 million Series A co-led by 8090 Industries and Founders Fund. Founded in 2020, Regent has raised $90 million, per the company.

Anthropic led the way globally, but there were big rounds overseas.

Comments from Jeremy Hunt and his deputy come as data shows the UK economy flatlined in the third quarter

Business taxes are set to fall in this month’s Autumn Statement as UK ministers signalled that they want to incentivise companies to pull Britain out of its growth stupor.

As new data showed the economy flatlining, chancellor Jeremy Hunt and his deputy John Glen made clear their desire to cut business taxes, including by extending the flagship “full expensing” capital allowance regime.

In September, Hunt insisted that the tight fiscal situation meant that tax cuts were “virtually impossible” at his Autumn Statement. But, on Friday, he said: “Cutting business taxes is the thing that’s most important at this stage.”

The UK economy stagnated in the three months to September, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics on Friday, putting more pressure on Hunt to stimulate the economy.

Glen, Treasury chief secretary, told the Financial Times that the flatlining economy was in line with market expectations but “of course it’s not good news”. He said the Autumn Statement would focus on boosting growth.

Government insiders said that Hunt was likely to extend beyond 2026 the “full expensing” regime, which lets businesses deduct the full cost of investments in IT equipment, plant or machinery from their profits.

The tax break is known inside the Treasury as “the Big Daddy” of business tax cuts. Extending the tax break, or making it permanent, is seen as the biggest ask from business ahead of the Autumn Statement.

While a one-year extension is seen by officials as the most likely outcome, Hunt has said he would like to make the tax break permanent when it is fiscally responsible to do so. That option remains on the table, said people briefed on the Autumn Statement discussions.

Business taxation is a critical element of the equation that needs to be examined very carefully

John Glen, Treasury chief secretary

The Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, has said the annual price tag for the scheme is about £10bn, which means that an extension will make it harder for Hunt to remain within his fiscal rules that require public debt to be on a downward path in five years’ time.

Glen argued that the true annual cost of the scheme could be lower in the longer term, saying that this was a “contestable space”.

The most recent OBR forecast on March 15 gave the chancellor £6.5bn of headroom against that fiscal rule, although since then public borrowing has undershot the watchdog’s expectations.

The Resolution Foundation has estimated that the headroom will be about £13bn because the impact of higher inflation on the public finances is proving less malign than expected.

Speaking from his constituency in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Glen made it clear that lower taxation was a crucial component in generating growth.

“Growth is the key thing that 2024 needs to be about,” he said.

“Business taxation is a critical element of the equation that needs to be examined very carefully,” Glen added. “Clearly, the level of taxation business and individuals face has an impact on the level of confidence in the economy and where they invest.”

Glen, a well-known figure in the financial services world after serving as City minister from 2018-2022, said he was deeply sympathetic to Tory MPs who want to see cuts to personal and business taxation.

“I’m not deaf to the fact politicians face elections,” he said. But he also cautioned that the government was not about to take big fiscal risks to secure an electoral advantage ahead of a poll expected in the autumn next year.

“I’m not comfortable with the high levels of tax we have, but we also have to have integrity in our public finances,” Glen said.

He added: “Serious people who run significant tranches of our economy in the City of London want serious people in the Treasury making long-term decisions rather than seeking to garner political support in the immediate term.”

Glen is deploying that approach to a review of productivity in the public sector commissioned by prime minister Rishi Sunak with the aim of curbing the growth of the state and creating space for tax cuts in the longer term.

He said the review would look to cut administrative spending in areas like the NHS, police, schools and justice system and identify areas where artificial intelligence could accelerate processes and cut costs.

“AI is massive,” said Glen, a technocratic minister who has long been a key lieutenant of Sunak and who shares the prime minister’s love of data.

His public sector review would also look at earlier interventions in areas like support for children or in justice to reduce demand in the system. But he admitted that his work would not save money this side of an election.

Glen said his was a “deep, reasoned, analytical and rigorous” piece of work intended to generate savings in the next spending period, beginning in 2025. Would a potential incoming Labour government find it helpful? “I hope it’s useful in all circumstances,” he smiled.

He insisted that it was vital to challenge the idea that public services were inevitably facing a period of austerity after the election because of very tight spending controls pencilled in by the Treasury.

“We will not just buy into this narrative that unless you increase money forever in every government department you are leading to a deterioration in public services,” he said.

“All those that commentate and look at public spending need to stop seeing it through the lens of how much more money we have got to put in,” he added.

Glen claimed that economic growth will “accelerate in 2024”, an optimistic view not shared by the Bank of England, which has predicted that the economy will flatline throughout next year, and that inflation will be falling. But he admitted that might not be enough to win over a sceptical public.

“There have been legacy political issues that people have found very disturbing,” he said, a reference to the recent turbulent past of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss premierships.

As for Sunak’s recent problems with his populist home secretary Suella Braverman, Glen made clear his distaste for some of his cabinet colleague’s recent comments.

Asked whether he shared Braverman’s views that people living on the streets were making a lifestyle choice, he said his “overall sentiment is one of compassion and concern”.

As for Braverman’s description of a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday as being a “hate march”, Glen said: “It is incumbent on all politicians to think carefully about how their remarks will be interpreted and what effect it will have on different groups and how they behave.”

Emerging markets specialist brings 40-year career to an end

Mark Mobius, one of the founders of emerging markets investing, is to step down from his eponymous firm after a 40-year career in asset management.

Mobius, 87, will leave Mobius Capital Partners in the coming months, the investment firm he co-founded in 2018, according to a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

He is one of the industry’s most prominent emerging market fund managers, having started one of the first funds dedicated to emerging markets more than 30 years ago.

The veteran investor also bought bargains in Asia and Russia after financial crises shook their markets in the late 1990s.

Mobius spent the bulk of his career at Franklin Templeton, where he launched one of the world’s first funds dedicated to growth economies in 1987, and grew the Templeton Emerging Markets Group’s investments in the sector from $100mn to $40bn during his tenure.

After he retired from Franklin Templeton in 2018, he founded Mobius Capital Partners with Carlos Hardenberg and Greg Konieczny, who also worked with him at Franklin Templeton. The company runs a $42mn fund, and a £164mn investment trust both focusing on emerging markets.

The fund, which invests primarily in Taiwan, India, South Korea and Brazil, has returned 26.9 per cent since it was founded, compared with the 11.5 per cent return from MSCI’s EM Midcap index.

Hardenberg, who has worked with Mobius for 23 years, said: “Our journey over the past five years has been marked by progress . . . we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mark for his exceptional contributions to emerging market investing over his long career.”

Mobius said: “As a shareholder of the Mobius Investment Trust, I will be following the company’s progress closely and will continue to be available to the team and the board.”

Maria Luisa Cicognani, chair of the Mobius Investment Trust, said: “We would like to express our immense gratitude to [Mark] for his advice and expertise over the years. We look forward to continuing to work with Mark, drawing on his support and vast knowledge of emerging markets.”

Hardenberg told the Financial Times that new partners in the firm will be announced in due course. “[Mark’s departure] is amicable and he will continue to be very active,” he said.

“We need to ensure that we have a robust structure in place which will support us in the years to come.”

City’s Democratic leader says he has ‘nothing to hide’ as authorities reportedly investigate campaign donations

New York City mayor Eric Adams said he had “nothing to hide” after his electronic devices were seized in the street by the FBI as part of a corruption investigation into his 2021 election campaign.

The Democratic politician’s campaign confirmed on Friday that Adams had been approached earlier this week by FBI agents. The news came days after a raid on the Brooklyn home of his 25-year-old chief campaign fundraiser, as authorities reportedly probe potentially illegal donations from the Turkish state.

In a statement, Adams, a former police officer who was elected to City Hall in 2021, said he expected “all members of my staff to follow the law and fully co-operate with any sort of investigation”. He added: “I will continue to do exactly that. I have nothing to hide”.

The escalation in the corruption probe follows an early-morning search last week of the Crown Heights home of Brianna Suggs, a former intern for Adams who rose to become head of his campaign funding organisation.

Adams rushed back from Washington, where he had been attending a White House meeting about migrants, after the raid was reported. “As a human being, I was concerned about a young 25-year-old staffer that went through a traumatic experience,” he told reporters.

US media reported that agents had seized iPhones and laptop computers, and were investigating potential illegal kickbacks to Turkish officials by the campaign, among other unlawful activities.

Adams has travelled to Turkey several times in the past few years, including while Brooklyn borough president. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing since the search of Suggs’s home.

A lawyer for Adams’s campaign, Boyd Johnson, said that after learning of the federal investigation, “it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly”. 

“In the spirit of transparency and co-operation, this behaviour was immediately and proactively reported to investigators,” he added. “The mayor has been and remains committed to co-operating in this matter.” 

Johnson’s statement confirmed reporting by The New York Times that the FBI had approached Adams on Monday night “after an event”. He said the mayor “immediately complied” with agents’ requests and provided them with his devices.

The Times had reported that the agents climbed into Adams’s SUV and that the devices were subsequently returned. Those details were not confirmed by the mayor’s office.

“The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and continues to co-operate with the investigation,” Johnson concluded. 

Adams’s 2021 campaign has been referenced in other criminal probes, with six people, including a retired police inspector, being charged by the Manhattan district attorney in July for allegedly “subverting campaign finance laws”.

The office of the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is reportedly involved in the federal probe, declined to comment.

Kurt Rappaport explains how a court verdict could upend the business for others; ‘I put my money where my mouth is’

If you’re Kurt Rappaport—a real-estate agent to the stars, with billionaires on speed dial and $100 million home sales under your belt—there’s really only one way to throw yourself a housewarming party, and that’s by inviting Snoop Dogg to DJ.

The 2022 event, at Rappaport’s old Hollywood-style compound in Los Angeles, was the culmination of a five-year renovation. It epitomized the rarefied world of luxury real estate in which Rappaport operates, where A-list clients flip $50 million homes and industrious agents can make fortunes of their own helping others buy and sell real estate.

At 52, Rappaport is at the pinnacle of a gilded world of superbrokers, featured in reality TV shows like “Selling Sunset” and “Million Dollar Listing.” Now a landmark court verdict threatens to upend the business after a federal jury in Missouri found the National Association of Realtors and large brokerages conspired to keep commission fees artificially high. The industry norm is 6%, split evenly between the buyer and seller’s agents. As a result of the ruling, the federal trial judge could mandate industrywide changes to the way brokers are paid.

At stake nationally is roughly $100 billion that Americans pay each year in real estate commissions. By his own estimate, Rappaport sold $1.6 billion worth of real estate last year, an amount that almost certainly earned him tens of millions of dollars in fees.

With a newfound ability to negotiate, home shoppers with access to real-estate data may forgo having two agents, or insist on paying less. Rappaport predicts agents could have to step up their game—to work harder, work smarter, develop thicker skin, leave it all on the table, he says. “There are a lot of people who think it’s easy and they can just take their friends to look at properties and that’s really not what this business is about,” he says.

He’s confident that his own niche at the high-end is secure. “No one is buying a $50 million or a $100 million house without having someone represent them,” he says. “We don’t get paid for our time. We don’t get paid for the effort,” he said. “You get paid for whether you win or lose, whether you get the result. You can always find someone who will charge less, but will they get it done?”

Six-foot-2-inches tall with a thicket of dark hair, Rappaport grew up in Los Angeles as the only child of parents who split when he was young. After moving in with his father, entertainment lawyer Floyd Rappaport, the teenager hobnobbed with the rich and famous at Spago and industry parties.

By his 20s, Rappaport was muscling his way to the top of L.A.’s glittering real-estate scene. After dropping out of the University of Southern California, he got an entry-level job at a production company, but quickly pivoted to real estate, which he loved for its deal making, architecture and design. In 1994, when Rappaport was 22, he listed Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss’s Beverly Hills-area home, priced just under $1.8 million. (Michael Douglas bought it.) Around then, he also sold a $10 million home to Sylvester Stallone, and a slew of VIP clients followed. In 1999, Rappaport and business partner Stephen Shapiro launched their own brokerage shop, Westside Estate Agency. “I do the management,” Shapiro told real-estate trade magazine the Real Deal in 2020. “He sells.”

A turning point came in the early 2000s. Rappaport was out to dinner when an anonymous caller rang his cellphone. It was Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who wanted to see a beachfront property in Malibu the next day. The story, now industry lore, goes that the listing agent wasn’t free but Rappaport opened the door anyway and Ellison bought the house for $11.8 million in 2002. Rappaport has since brokered more than 30 sales for Ellison and trophy-home collectors like him. In addition to Ellison, Rappaport’s repeat clients include talk-show host and serial home-flipper Ellen DeGeneres, and over the years he has represented Ryan Seacrest, David Geffen, Brad Pitt and Madonna. Earlier this year, Rappaport brokered Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s roughly $200 million purchase of an oceanfront Tadao Ando-designed mansion in Malibu, a deal that set a California sales record. He is currently marketing the Bel-Air estate of the late billionaire financier Gary Winnick for a potentially record-setting $250 million.

The unrelenting grind reaps rewards, particularly at an elite level.

In 2020, when Rappaport surfaced as a bidder to buy the New York Mets, Forbes estimated he was worth $250 million. The same year, he paid $3.7 million for a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card. “Not only is it beautiful, but it’s rare,” he told TMZ Sports, describing the baseball card the same way one might view fine art or architecture.

Rappaport has also parlayed his winnings into his own portfolio of luxury homes. In 2018, he sold a 15,000-square-foot Malibu mansion to Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz for $85 million and his Hollywood Hills home to Tinder co-founder Sean Rad for $26.5 million. A year before selling the Malibu house, Rappaport got married there to model Sarah Hutch in a star-studded affair featuring a performance by Christina Aguilera. The marriage was short-lived; after their 2018 split, Rappaport married Zorana Kuzmanovic. They live in the compound that was completed in 2022.

Rappaport said some agents spend their money on vacations or cars, but not him. He has been buying real estate himself ever since he began selling it. “It’s not just that I’m trying to make a deal,” he said. “I put my money where my mouth is. That’s how you get wealthy. By owning, not by being a broker.”