Floyd Mayweather, a 15-time major world champion boxer, narrowly avoided falling victim to a real estate scam.
The undefeated fighter intended to purchase his dream home in Los Angeles located down the block from billionaires Beyoncé and Jay-Z, but later discovered that the seller of the home was shady and had tried to entangle him in a tax evasion scheme.
The Bel Air mansion seemed to be perfect for Mayweather, boasting an expansive 35,000-square-foot space with 12 bedrooms, 17 baths, an elevator for his car collection, and a dazzling 44-foot chandelier at its center.
The house also has a 6,000-square foot nightclub with crystal-embedded walls, a ventilated cigar humidor, a temperature-regulated wine room, a movie theater with custom leather seats, a pool complete with hydraulic screens, a vodka tasting room outfitted with faux fur stoles, and a prime position in the elevated hills of the exclusive community.
The owner, a retired emergency room UCLA doctor Joseph Englanoff, showed the boxer the home in 2021. After impressing Mayweather with all of its unique fixtures, he agreed to sell the house to him for $139 million.
Ring to Real Estate: Floyd Mayweather From Ring to Real Estate: Floyd Mayweather Exposes a Possible Megamansion Tax Scam @LAmag https://t.co/hB2WtDVQGn
— Boback Ziaeian 🤦🏻♂️ (@boback) November 22, 2023
However, when the contracts were sent to his lawyers, he discovered he was not actually buying the home. Instead, it showed he was purchasing shares in Ashley Ridge Land LP, a Nevada-based company whose holdings included the property along with a measly plot of land near Las Vegas.
Rockard “Rocky” Delgadillo, Mayweather’s attorney, said he saw red flags that suggested the boxer was being wrangled into a scam, where in addition to buying more than just the house, he would also be hiring Englanoff as a paid consultant.
“After careful consideration of various aspects of this transaction, including due diligence, we advised our client not to proceed with this seller,” Delgadillo said in an interview with Los Angeles Magazine.
Tax attorney Steven Chung said while the move was shady, it is a common tactic used by rich people.
“California’s tax agencies are very familiar with those who try to falsely claim Nevada residency. … A variety of factors determine someone’s true tax residency, the most important being where they hold professional licenses and where their children attend school,” Chung said, adding, “If Englanoff was housing a California property under a Nevada corporation, he may also have to register the entity with the California Secretary of State as a foreign corporation.”
Mayweather said he was upset about not getting the house of his dreams but glad his team caught the signs of a potentially bad deal early and prevented him from getting involved with anything illegal.
“I didn’t want to be part of cheating people. I have a home here; I do business here. What he’s doing is just not right, taking from poor people. He’s greedy and sneaky and that’s not cool,” Mayweather said.
The house isn’t the only issue Mayweather and Englanoff have with each other.
In 2021, around the time Mayweather was considering buying the house, Englanoff says he wired Mayweather $1.4 million to invest in the Mayweather/ Logan Paul exhibition fight. According to a lawsuit filed by Englanoff, Mayweather promised him profits from ticket resales at higher markups.
After the fight, which ended in a draw, the money was never paid to him, Englanoff’s claim says. To make matters worse, he alleges that Mayweather took the money and reinvested it somewhere else without permission.
This lawsuit is still pending and the International Boxing Hall of Fame fighter has not commented on the litigation. He did mention that he once had a good relationship with the doctor, but with all of the underhanded dealings it has since soured.
Mayweather previously had tax real tax issues after reports revealed that he owed $22.2 million to the IRS in 2015.
