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Jeffrey Yohai, a real estate investor and Paul Manafort’s former son-in-law, has been ordered to stop using his Bel Air pad for parties.
Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Craig Karlan issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday barring Yohai from “advertising or promoting” his Stradella Road property as a “party house, and from offering to rent it for such purposes.”
The five-bedroom home had been available for rent on Airbnb for $1,299 a night and was marketed as a “private sanctuary” with “must see sunsets.” It looks like the listing has since been taken down, but when it was active, the description said that “events and parties are welcome,” according to the Bel-Air Association.
Bel Air residents say the home attracted partiers who hosted “all-night ragers” with guests who “clogged streets, damaged property, and blast[ed] music until the early mornings.”
The restraining order gets pretty specific about the the things Yohai can’t do with the property. It says, for example, that guests and residents are prohibited from “anything that is lit, burning, or on fire in or near brush, shrubs, or anything else that is combustible.”
A company controlled by Yohai has owned the property since March 2016. It paid $8.5 million for the home, then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection nine months later. Bankruptcy court records show that Manafort, who briefly served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager, loaned $2.7 million for the property; Manafort is listed as one of the creditors.
The order isn’t permanent, but it might be another nail in the coffin for Manafort’s and Yahoi’s fledgling real estate empire. The Justice Department’s October indictment against Manafort (for allegedly colluding with Russia in the 2016 presidential election) included some details on an Airbnb business that Manafort ran along with his daughter and Yohai, which they allegedly used to launder money.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel industry workers, is holding up the Stradella property as an example of how short-term rentals pose problems for residential neighborhoods. Some of its union members have picketed outside the home.
“This house is yet another glaring example of short-term rentals facilitating unlawful activities,” Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, who reps the neighborhood, said in a statement. “From promoting illegal hotels which decimate the local housing market, to creating new loopholes for the likes of Paul Manafort to exploit, short term rental platforms are inextricable from shady financial dealings that harm communities in my district.”
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