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Billionaire hedge funder John Paulson owns the palatial Hala Ranch in Starwood made famous by a Saudi Arabian prince, but it’s a project in Florida that has put him sideways with an Aspen developer.
For a mansion he hired Bob Bowden “to redecorate” in Palm Beach, Paulson claims the builder and designer exceeded the project’s $6 million budget by “several million dollars” and hasn’t honored an agreement to resolve the matter.
Paulson, through an Aspen law firm, filed his $1.5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against Bowden in Pitkin County District Court on May 3. Another lawsuit in district court concerning Paulson’s Palm Beach home project, entered April 2, alleges that Bowden owes more than $100,000 to an Aspen design firm.
Out of town for the last two weeks, Bowden said Monday that he was unaware of the civil complaints.
“I have not been served, I don’t know what this is about and we’ll look into it,” he said.
Aspen law firm Oates Knezevich Gardenswartz Kelly & Ticsay PC filed the bigger-dollar suit on behalf of Paulson, who was identified as the single plaintiff. Bowden was named individually as a defendant. Firm attorneys declined to comment about the suit.
The complaint alleges that Bowden, in an agreement with Paulson to bring the cost closer to budget, agreed to buy back certain furniture items from the home at cost — $1.5 million, the amount that Paulson paid for the pieces in the first place.
“Bowden planned to bring the furnishings back to Aspen, where he would sell them. One of the ways Bowden planned to sell the furniture was to include the items in his company’s Aspen development projects,” the lawsuit says.
Paulson gave Bowden one year, or until March 31, to pay him back for the furniture, the suit says. Bowden hasn’t made any payments on the balance, it says.
“Bowden promised that he would pay Paulson whatever money he received when he sold the furniture. Nevertheless, regardless of whether any furniture had sold, Bowden promised that he would pay back the entire refund” by the deadline, the suit says.
The April suit, filed by Basalt firm Peck Feigenbaum PC, alleges Paulson actually reimbursed Bowden for the Aspen design firm’s work. The suit alleges that Bowden hired Lily De Asa Design, which billed him $190,273 for its work done in 2022. Bowden, despite Paulson paying him $167,000 for the design firm’s work in January 2023, still owes $117,025 on the balance, the suit alleges.
The Aspen Daily News left a message with the design firm and the lawyer who filed the suit Monday but did not receive a response.
According to Forbes online, Paulson’s “real-time net worth” of $3.5 billion as of Monday placed him among the world’s wealthiest 1,000 individuals (No. 950). His firm accumulated profits of $20 billion by betting against subprime mortgages and banks in 2007. More recently, Donald Trump has dropped his name as a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury if the former president is elected to a second term. Paulson’s fundraising event on April 6 for Trump’s campaign raised a single-event record of $50.5 million, the Associated Press reported.
Paulson’s estate on South Ocean Boulevard had a total market value of $113.69 million and a property tax bill of $1.71 million in 2023, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. That’s the same place where he hosted the Trump fundraiser and where Bowden’s work was done, based on address records.
Paulson owns the Hala Ranch property and another Starwood home, both of which he acquired for a total of $49 million from Saudi PrinceBandar bin Sultan in June 2012.
The Hala Ranch estate, which he bought for $41 million, has a current fair-market value of $90 million and a $251,635 tax bill for 2023, according to Pitkin County Assessor’s Office online records. The $8 million property Paulson also purchased in June 2012 has a current fair-market value of $29 million and a $80,931 tax bill for 2023.
Paulson owns those properties through a limited liability company, Starwood Mountain Ranch.