Earlier this month, Kevin Garnett filed a lawsuit against his former accountant Michael Wertheim and his employer, CPA firm Welenken Partners. The alleged crime? Stealing. The amount? $77 million. Kevin's lawsuit alleges that Wertheim funneled money to a guy named Charles Banks IV who then invested the money in a bunch of shady ventures. When it's all said and done, Kevin claims $77 million of his hard-earned money vanished. Kevin is the highest-earning NBA player of all time with total career salary of $334.3 million.
If he really lost $77 million, that would be roughly 23% of all the money Kevin Garnett earned on the court during his time in the NBA. BUT, when you factor in taxes, which would be appropriate because that $77 million is post-tax, it's more like 45% of all the money he earned. Pretty stunning. And that might explain why Kevin is circling his financial wagons.
First on the block? A 7-acre property in Malibu.
Back in 2003, Kevin bought a six-bedroom house on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu for $6.4 million. He demolished the house and set about plans to build his dream home.
He eventually began construction on what will ultimately be an 11,000 square-foot mansion on the 7-acre, ocean-view estate.
The house is partially complete as of this writing. According to the listing agent, completing the project will take another 12 months minimum.
As we mentioned, he bought the house 15 years ago for $6.4 million. God only knows how much he's spent to date demolishing the original house, hiring architects and building the structure you see now. Certainly it was millions and millions more. Kevin is now hoping someone will step in and take the behemoth off his hands for $19.9 million.
Would you buy a half completed house from someone for nearly $20 million? You'd better LOVE their design choices!
