Bankruptcy billionaire, D.C. real estate pair swap for $13.22M in Palm Beach

Wilbur L. Ross Jr. bought a five-bedroom, 6.5 bath at 1 Pelican Lane in Palm Beach for $13.22 million from Dana Landry and William F. X. Moody on June 3.

Moody and Landry paid $5.06 million for the property in Oct. 2002. The two-story, 5,719 square foot house was built in 1936.

Ross and his wife, Hilary, own the property adjacent to 1 Pelican Lane at 328 El Vedado Rd., which they paid $9 million for in April 2003.

Ross is an investor who specializes in leveraged buyouts and is known for restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles. In 1998, Fortune called him the "King of Bankruptcy."

With a fortune of $1.7 billion, he was listed as No. 707 on the most recent Forbes list of the world's richest people.

He currently serves as the CEO and chairman of W.L. Ross and Co., a private investment firm.

He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard University and his bachelor's from Yale.

Landry is a principal broker and a founding partner at Washington Fine Properties, a Washington, D.C., carriage-trade real estate firm.

Prior to joining WFP, Landry spent 17 years with Mitel, a telecommunications company.

Moody is an executive vice president and founding partner at Washington Fine Properties.

Prior to WFP, he has worked with Sotheby's International Realty in Manhattan. He was eventually transferred to its Washington D.C. office. Earlier, he was an accounts manager for Pitney Bowes Credit Corporation.

Home sales in Palm Beach have dropped 16.3 percent thus far in 2008. The median sale price has also dropped $100,000, from $1.2 million in 2007 to $1.1 million so far this year.

Address: 328 El Vedado Road
Buyer(s): Wilbur L Ross Jr
Seller(s): Dana E Landry and William F X Moody
Sale date: Jun. 3, 2008

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