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It's bad enough when a Malibu couple gets creamed by Bernie's outrageousness. It's even worse when the couple has to give up its Malibu Colony home to Wells Fargo. But now the LAT hears from neighbors that one of the bank's L.A. executives spent weekends in the $12-million beach house, hosting what the paper calls "eye-catching parties." The executive was ID'd by residents as Cheronda Guyton, a VP in charge of foreclosed commercial properties. Guyton couldn't be reached by the Times and Wells is invoking its we "don't discuss specific team member situations/issues for privacy reasons" tap dance. But yes, er, it is looking into the matter.
The home's former owners, Lawrence and Linda Elins, didn't respond to requests for an interview. Their real estate agent, Irene Dazzan-Palmer, said she had been trying to lease the home for the couple since last spring, after they were "devastated" by Madoff losses. But before she could find a renter, the couple signed over the property to Wells Fargo to help satisfy a larger debt, she said. Wells Fargo subsequently denied requests to show the house to prospective buyers, said Dazzan-Palmer, a Coldwell Banker specialist in Malibu Colony properties.
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Colony residents said the woman they believe to be Guyton, along with her husband and two children, took up occupancy at 106 Malibu Colony Road shortly after Lawrence Elins turned it over to Wells Fargo Bank on May 13. The residents said the family spent long weekends at the home and had guests over, including a large party the last weekend of August that featured a waterborne arrival. "A yacht pulled up offshore, with one of those inflatable dinghies to take people back and forth to the shore," said Roman's wife, Elaine Johnson. "About 20 people got taken over in the dinghy."
Guess this pushes Michael Duvall off the front page.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.