Missing Millionaire Guma Aguiar's Jerusalem Real Estate To Be Sold

The Brazilian-born philanthropist who lavishly supported Zionist Orthodox and Chabad causes went missing last June after heading out to sea alone in his motorboat in the dark of night off the coast of Florida. The boat eventually was found washed up on shore – without Aguiar.

Guma Aguiar

Jerusalem properties belonging to missing multi-millionaire Guma Aguiar are reportedly about to be sold.

The Brazilian-born philanthropist who lavishly supported Zionist Orthodox and Chabad causes went missing last June after heading out to sea alone in his motorboat in the dark of night off the coast of Florida. The boat eventually was found washed up on shore – Aguiar.

Aguiar suffered from manic depressive illness which he had been hospitalized for at least once.

Family members are fighting over his estate as some people – including his wife Jamie – believe Aguiar may have faked his death in order to escape from the pressures of his ongoing fight with his incredibly wealthy uncle, Thomas Kaplan, and from a distressed marriage.

Ha'aretz reports on the property sale:

…Among [Aguiar's] Jerusalem properties being put on the block are an Old City apartment overlooking the Western Wall and his main Jerusalem residence in the neighborhood of Yemin Moshe. While the properties going on sale are valued in the tens of millions of shekels, they are only a small portion of the close to 30 that he owned in Israel's capital. The properties are apparently being sold in order to cover the debts of Aguiar and family members…

Under Israeli law, the moment Aguiar was declared a missing person his property was transferred into the hands of the Justice Ministry’s Administrator General, which is now guardian of the properties. The sales are being overseen by [two court appointed attorneys].

The most intriguing property is Aguiar's apartment on Hatamid Street in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter overlooking the Kotel. Aguiar took pride in this apartment and said he intended to donate it to the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement to serve as a center for learning. In an interview with TheMarker, Aguiar said he would not sell the apartment even if he were offered one billion shekels, but it will fetch less than that. An appraiser hired by the property’s two managers valued the apartment at NIS 15 million [about $4.2 million].…

Aguiar's personal residence on Yemin Moshe's Hatikva Street, opposite the Old City walls, was originally two separate duplex homes. The house has 430 square meters [about 5,000 square feet] of floor space spread across three stories. Its yard has a jacuzzi and a fish pond. The home's appraised value is NIS 15 million [about $4.2 million], but it could be redivided and each home sold separately for as much as NIS 8 million [$2.3 million] each.…

Comments

[Reese]

Will some Lubavitcher rabbi come forward and demand a piece of the sale?

[m]

for a very smart man, it was pretty stupid of him to boat at night by himself .

[HavaMina]

@m:

Guma suffered from bi-polar disorder and was under a great deal of emotional pressure from a heavily stressed marriage and setbacks in his legal battle with his uncle. I'm not sure "stupid" is the right judgement to issue. I don't know how bad his mental illness had gotten, but from reports it seems he was increasingly troubled and may not have been managing his medication correctly. Its possible, as his mother said, that he had a "psychotic break." I regard this as most probably "sad" rather than "stupid."