The mystery buyer behind one of Bel Air's most jaw-dropping real estate deals of the year has a name: Peter Thiel. The billionaire co-founder of Palantir Technologies and PayPal has been identified as the buyer of Casa Encantada, the 1930s-era estate at 10644 Bellagio Road that sold for $130 million in July at a foreclosure auction inside Pomona's Civic Center Plaza.
The winning bidder was technically a limited liability company linked to Thiel, whose identity had been concealed until this month, according to The Real Deal. The outlet reports the purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Thiel does not intend to live at the estate, instead using it as an investment property, and he plans to renovate the home under his ownership, per the same account.
Notably, Thiel had reportedly been eyeing the 40,000-square-foot estate for months before it ever reached the auction block. He relocated his primary residence from California to Miami late in 2025, and he already owns properties scattered across Miami, Buenos Aires, Washington, D.C., New Zealand and Hawaii, the report notes.
A Mansion With a Tragic Financial Backstory
Casa Encantada was for decades the home of late financier and telecommunications mogul Gary Winnick and his wife, Karen Winnick. Following Winnick's death in 2023, the property became embroiled in a foreclosure battle, according to the report. Entities tied to Winnick had defaulted on more than $150 million in loans from CIM Real Estate Credit that were backed by Casa Encantada and other properties.
Karen Winnick had spent years trying to sell the sprawling estate before it landed at auction, slashing its asking price several times along the way. The property was first listed in 2019 for $225 million, then relisted in 2023 for $250 million, according to a separate Real Deal report. By April, the price had fallen to $170 million, down from $190 million the year before, before the estate finally went to the auction block in July, according to Homes.com, which described the property as an 8.4-acre estate — a figure that differs from The Real Deal's reported 8.5 acres.
The site notes the $130 million sale marked Los Angeles' biggest public home sale of 2026, even amid what it called a slow summer for the luxury market. Business Insider previously reported that a price cut to $165 million represented a 34 percent drop from the estate's highest asking price, while Yahoo reported that Casa Encantada had repeatedly been listed and pulled from the market since 2019 as its price tag slid from $250 million to $195 million.
A House That Keeps Breaking Records
Casa Encantada's history of eye-popping price tags goes back decades. The seven-bedroom estate sold for $12.4 million in 1980, then traded hands again in 2000 for $94 million when the Winnicks bought it — a sale that set the record at the time for the most ever paid for a private home in America, according to Robb Report. Casa Encantada has now set that national record twice.
The Bel Air estate isn't alone at the top of California's luxury market this year. A Malibu mansion owned by the founder of Oakley sunglasses sold for $210 million in June, setting a new record for the most expensive home ever sold in the state, per Business Insider. Nationally, Robb Report notes the priciest home sale on record remains a $238 million New York City penthouse bought by hedge fund manager Ken Griffin.
What Thiel ultimately does with Casa Encantada remains to be seen, but for now the historic Bel Air estate has a new owner with deep pockets and, according to the reporting, no plans to move in.
