Home in Jennifer Dulos case up for auction
NEW CANAAN — Prospective buyers of the last house Fotis Dulos built — at 61 Sturbridge Hill Road — will need a $365,000 bank or certified check to bid on the property during a foreclosure auction this month.
The 9,424-square-foot home, which sports five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, has never been lived in, according to attorney Ross Fingold, who is handling the foreclosure for the Savings Bank of Danbury.
“It’s a beautiful house,” Fingold said. “Hopefully, there will be a significant amount of interest.”
The property has a finished basement with a gym, theater and playroom and full bath, according to appraisal documents. The main floor has a library in addition to a kitchen with high-end appliances, dining room, living room and a mud room.
The master suite has a fireplace and “his and her” separate closets and a full bath. The house was initially listed for sale at $4.8 million in 2018 before it was completed. The last listing price ranged from $3.97 million to $3.99 million before it was pulled off the market during the foreclosure proceedings, documents said.
Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020 while facing murder and other charges in connection with the death and disappearance of his estranged wife.
The property at 61 Sturbridge Hill Road was completed a few months before his death, making it the last property that he built, Fingold said.
It was one of several properties owned by Fotis Dulos and his high-end real estate development company, Fore Group, that went into foreclosure as police mounted an intense investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. The New Canaan mother of five vanished May
24, 2019 and has been presumed dead.
To participate in the June
26 auction, potential buyers will be required to bring a bank or certified check for 10 percent of the appraisal price of $3.65 million. Qualified buyers will be allowed on the property at 11 a.m. with the auction starting at noon, Fingold said.
Anyone who submits a
$365,000 bank or certified check and places the highest bid in the auction must come up with the rest of financing for the home or risk losing the deposit, the attorney said.
The Savings Bank of Danbury is looking to recoup the $2.8 million construction loan given to Fotis Dulos to build the property plus interest, late fees and the cost of a receiver maintaining the house and parcel for a total of $3.3 million, Fingold said. The auction price will have to be approved by the court, which handled the foreclosure.
Two of Fotis Dulos’ longtime friends, Harry Masiello, a Rhode Island businessman, and Ioannis “Yannis” Toutziaridis, a Greek businessman, have filed claims against the foreclosure, contending they loaned him money that may have been used to develop the property.
Fotis Dulos’ mother-in-law, Gloria Farber, has also filed a claim against the foreclosure on the grounds she was awarded a $1.9 million judgment in a lawsuit she filed against her son-in-law for business loans the family gave him prior to 2017.
Her attorney, Richard Weinstein, said Fotis Dulos gave mortgages to his friends, but “the reality is there are technical legal issues about those claims.” Weinstein is challenging the mortgages to Masiello and Toutziaridis in separate court filings.
Like many of the properties owned by Fotis Dulos, the Sturbridge Hill Road home became a focus of the investigation into the disappearance of his estranged wife when neighbors reported hearing loud bangs near a dumpster the morning after the disappearance.
Search warrants indicate that nothing was found on the property to help lead to Jennifer Dulos.