Criminal couple’s Raleigh mansion avoids auction block with 11th-hour reprieve

An 11th-hour reprieve has saved a storied, Raleigh mansion with a Russian criminal past from the auction block.

Just hours before a “live, in-person, no-reserve” auction was to take place Aug. 23 at 6510 New Market Way in the North Ridge Country Club neighborhood, the seller withdrew from the sale, said Trayor Lesnock, founder of Platinum Luxury Auctions., in an emailed statement to The N&O.

No registered bidders or members of Platinum’s team were on site yet. But the seller’s decision to exercise her option to withdraw was a “great surprise and disappointment,” he said.

CBS17.com first reported the cancellation.

Partnered with listing agency Engel & Völkers Raleigh, the Miami-based auction house had planned to sell the 16,856-square-foot house to the highest bidder.

This is Platinum’s first offering in the area. An auction sale, especially at this price and location, is uncommon in the Triangle, say experts.

“Our predicted price range was on target, compounding our surprise,” Lesnock added.

Eight months earlier, the mansion had hit the market at $10 million with no apparent buyers — even after a million-dollar price drop.

The property registered nine bidders after the auction was announced in late July. “We were likely to add a 10th bidder just before the sale,” Lesnock said.

The swoon-worthy mansion with “Texas-cream limestone” columns and “Brazilian cherry-wood doors” once housed the Russian couple Leonid and Tatiana Teyf.

In 2018, the FBI raided the estate, indicting the couple on charges that included money laundering, plotting a murder-for-hire and defrauding the Russian government out of tens of millions of dollars. The Teyfs eventually surrendered $6 million in assets but kept the mansion, The N&O reported .

Today, the mansion stands behind a black, cast-iron gate on a 1.8-acre lot overlooking the club’s 18th green. It boasts eight bedrooms, 14 baths, two elevators, a sauna, gym, saltwater pool and a remodeled bank-vault wine cellar.

Wake County real estate records show it solely in Tatyana Teyf’s name. The total assessed value is slightly above $8 million .

The property will remain available for direct offers and negotiation. Platinum has no plan to reschedule an auction.

“We welcome any negotiations,” Lesnock said.