Mark Zuckerberg is fighting with neighbor and real estate developer, Mircea Voskerician, because the latter sold him a property with the veiled threat that he would turn it into a day and night peep show into the world of Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, according to Bloomberg.
Zuckerberg claims Voskerician’s plans were tantamount to extortion, as he informed Zuckerberg that he was tearing down the property behind Zuckerberg’s Palo Alto home to build a lavish 9, 600 sq ft mansion which would have a direct view into the Facebook founder’s master bedroom and yard.
Voskerician sold Zuckerberg the property at a 100% premium rather than carry out his plans, and to be on the safe side, Zuckerberg bought the three other properties surrounding his. A source told the San Jose Mercury News, “The real estate developer was going to market the property as being next door to Mark Zuckerberg.”
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The chutzpah continued. Voskerician apparently demanded Zuckerberg promise to introduce him to the best, brightest, and more to the point, richest in Silicon Valley, and that Zuckerberg’s “failure” to do this is one of the real estate developer’s complaints against the 31 year old billionaire.
Zuckerberg said in an email he promised to help his neighbor in only a “light” way, but Voskerician wrote in an email to Zuckerberg one of the reasons he sold him the property was his alleged “offering to help me get homes, development projects, in front of your Facebook employees, ” according to the Daily Mail. In addition, Voskerician sent emails to Facebook employees threatening them from a “security or PR standpoint.”
Voskerician crassly told Zuckerberg that buying the property was his “one shot” at privacy, which seemed more like a threat than a sales pitch. Zuckerberg bought the proposed mansion site, along with the plans, for $1.7 million, a price the real estate developer described as a “deep discount.” He is suing Zuckerberg, because he claims he gave him the discount on the promise he would introduce the developer to Silicon Valley contacts. If the case isn’t settled, it could go to court, and if Zuckerberg loses, the home could go back to Voskerician, who might get his dream home with a view of Mark Zuckerberg’s bedroom.
