The bluff-top mansion at the end of Malibu's Sweetwater Mesa Road sold for more than $30 million in 2016. The home is 15,000 square feet of interior space, six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. There are multiple guest houses plus a guard house, a tennis court and a swimming pool.

The Seller was represented by Mauricio Umansky, a broker with the high-end real estate firm the Agency. The seller alleges that Umansky caused him to sell the home for millions less than it was worth in 2016 because he had partnered as an investor with the winning bidder, allowing the pair to maximize their profits when they resold it less than a year later.

However, the defendant argues, "Mr. Umansky did exactly what he was retained to do," attorneys for Umansky and the Agency wrote in a court filing. "He sold the Sweetwater property with virtually no publicity, under a strict deadline and at a price above the appraised value."

The seller insisted that the property not be advertised and the sale happen quietly, according to Fredric Trester, an attorney representing Umansky and the Agency. Umansky got five offers, and Seller settled on one for $33.5 million from Mauricio Oberfeld, a developer of luxury homes. Oberfeld would eventually buy the house in 2016 for $32.5 million after asking the Seller for a discount because of repairs that needed to be made at the property, which had been vacant. Before escrow closed, another investor, Sam Hakim, offered Oberfeld $8 million to take over his bid and purchase the property, suggesting that Hakim though the property was worth at least $41.5 million. Umansky never told the Seller about Hakim's higher offer.

Oberfeld spent millions of dollars on renovations, then sold the house nine months later for $69.9 million, more than double his purchase price. And he had a partner in the deal: Umansky, a longtime business associate who invested alongside Oberfeld in the 2016 purchase and listed the home in 2017. The seller alleged Umansky did not disclose his investment until shortly before the sale closed.

The Seller alleged Umansky had used his position as both broker and buyer to get a deal that favored himself over the Seller.

Later, the Seller added a more explosive allegation: that Umansky pushed the sale to Oberfeld and recommended the $1-million discount, despite knowing that another potential buyer was interested in the property and was willing to pay $8 million more than Oberfeld. The Seller is upset because it appears that Umansky did not report the higher offer from Hakim even as he was recommending to the Seller that he agree to Oberfeld's demand for a $1 million decrease in the purchase price due to necessary repairs.

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