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Investors Flip Malibu Estate Once Involved in Corruption Scandal for $69.9 Million

The home once belonged to a playboy political leader of Equatorial Guinea

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The home last sold for $33.5 million in June.

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The home last sold for $33.5 million in June.
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A group of investors has flipped a Malibu beach home that once belonged to Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the playboy son of Equatorial Guinea’s despotic president, for $69.9 million—one of the priciest sales this year in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood, property records show.

A limited liability company tied to a luxury real estate dream team—Los Angeles developer Mauricio Oberfeld, his construction and contracting business partner Matthew Dugally and Mauricio Umansky, founder of high-end brokerage The Agency—snapped up the rundown mansion for $33.5 million in June. A construction trust deed for $26 million indicates the group put some sweat (and serious cash) into renovating the property before selling it off for double their money on March 31, according to records accessed through PropertyShark.

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The new owner of the beachfront home is listed as Malibu LaMalibu, an offshore company registered to the British Virgin Islands. A lawyer for the shell company did not immediately return a request for comment.

The property has had a dramatic year, in which the U.S. government forced the African oligarch to forfeit the Malibu compound, a Ferrari and various Michael Jackson memorabilia to settle charges of corruption. The U.S. Justice Department accused Mr. Obiang, who serves as the second vice president of Equatorial Guinea under his father, of launching a "corruption-fueled spending spree in the United States" after raking in millions in bribes and kickbacks, according to the Justice Department.

He’s now standing trial in France on more corruption charges, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the recent sale.

Mr. Obiang bought the home in 2006 under a shell company, Sweetwater Malibu LLC, for $30 million, according to property records.

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Though it’s undoubtedly undergone changes since it was first built in 1991, the mansion spans 15,000 square feet, has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, according to property records.

Aerial images of the property show a horseshoe-shaped, Mediterranean-style main house with views over the Pacific Ocean and Malibu Lagoon. The backyard consists of a landscaped terrace with a hot tub and pool; while a winding pond with a bridge sits at the front of the house. The property also encompasses a tennis court, a gated entrance and multiple additional buildings.

Mr. Oberfeld, Mr. Dugally and Mr. Umansky did not respond to requests for comment.