The scandalous history of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s new California mansion

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have finally settled on a uniquely extravagant Beverly Hills mansion that will become their permanent home together — and it only took “nearly two years of house hunting and at least five aborted escrows,” as Dirt reported.

Set on a 5-acre promontory overlooking Beverly Hills, the 12-bedroom, 24-bath residence, known as the “Wallingford Estate,” features a palatial design that was originally inspired by Marie Antoinette’s chateau Le Petit Trianon, Dirt and the Daily Mail said. More intriguing: The 38,000-square-foot compound boasts a colorful ownership history that includes a convicted Ponzi schemer and a disgraced Saudi prince who was arrested on the premises for alleged sexual assault.

Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez buy $60 Million mansion in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/ARo5RW9Q5L

— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) June 1, 2023

At one point, the developer who owned the mega-mansion in 2018 tried to sell it for $135 million, after executing a major overhaul that modernized the home’s look and added an “epic” 155-foot infinity pool, the Robb Report said.  Lopez and Affleck managed to snatch it up for the relative bargain price of $61 million — paid in cash, according to TMZ, which first reported on the deal Wednesday.

TMZ also reported that the newlyweds have begun moving into the estate in the gated Beverly Glen community, with couches, rugs, lamps and other furnishings being unloaded onto the driveway. The couple will need lots of furniture to fill their many new rooms: The estate also features a 5,300-square-foot master suite, a hair and nail salon and a separate, 5,000-square-foot sports facility, which includes an indoor pickleball court, boxing ring and sports lounge, as Forbes said.

TMZ said the entire deal went down in about a week, which means the newlyweds may not have had time to fully appreciate their new home’s colorful history, starting with its original design inspiration. It was first built in 2000, with a main house that was said to take a cue from Marie Antoinette’s private retreat on the grounds of Versailles, according to Dirt and the Daily Mail.

2571 Wallingford Drive Beverly Hills, CA $37,500,00 pic.twitter.com/iWyN92zuSG

— Ridiculous Listings (@ridiculistings) March 10, 2014

Alex Yemenidjian, the former CEO of MGM Studios, purchased it in 2002, then flipped it in 2004 for $14 million to Curtis Somoza, a convicted Ponzi schemer currently serving a 25-year prison sentence, Dirt and the FBI reported. Before his arrest, Somoza had begun a major renovation, which was then taken over in 2007 by new owner Jeoung Lee, a South Korean woman who made her fortune through owning nursing homes, according to Dirt and The American Mansion.

Over the next decade, the house “waffled in and out of foreclosure” and was routinely rented out for parties and to short-term tenants, Dirt said. In 2015, the estate became a reported crime scene, thanks to one of those tenants, a Saudi prince who was arrested over alleged sexual assaults that took place on the property.

The Hollywood Reporter said that Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, then 28, was taken into custody by Los Angeles police after a caretaker contacted authorities. Police responded to the compound for a reported disturbance, finding a “party atmosphere,” and hearing from neighbors that a bleeding woman screamed for help as she tried to scale an 8-foot-tall wall that surrounds the property, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

Three other women subsequently came forward claiming to be victims of the prince’s “extreme,” “outrageous” and “despicable behavior,” the Los Angeles Times reported. But Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to prosecute, saying there was not enough evidence to file felony charges.