Bill Cosby defaults on $17.5 million mortgage, faces foreclosure for a 2nd townhouse

[TMC]

https://www.inquirer.com/news/bill-c...-20250102.html

Bill Cosby, the disgraced comedian who has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women, now has two Manhattan townhouses facing foreclosure

Cosby, 87, allegedly defaulted on a mortgage for his 12,000-square-foot Upper East Side house after not making payments since June, according to court records. The complaint, filed in New York County Supreme Court on Saturday, alleges that Cosby and his wife, Camille, owe First Foundation Bank more than $16 million.

The couple used the six-story property, which they purchased in 1987, as their primary residence, according to Crain’s New York Business. The building is not occupied by its owners, the complaint says.

Earlier in December, CitiMortgage filed a lawsuit against the Cosbys for defaulting on a $4.5 million mortgage for another Upper East Side townhouse. The mortgage-granting entity of financial giant Citibank said in court records that the couple owes $3.68 million of the mortgage’s principal, plus interest.

The new default is for a large house, and a large loan, 10 blocks south.

The overall principal on the loan was $17.5 million after First Foundation refinanced an existing mortgage in 2014, according to court records. The current monthly payment is over $125,000.

The bank says in its complaint that the Cosbys stopped making payments in June. In a November letter, an attorney for the bank gave the couple a month to pay the $800,000 owed for those months, including late fees.

This was not the first time they defaulted on this mortgage, according to the letter. The couple missed payments in 2023 but paid more than half a million dollars that October to cover back payments.

“Much to the Lender’s chagrin, you managed to keep the loan current for only a few months, but once again there was a failure to pay,” wrote Jay Hack, the lawyer who represents the bank.

Hack declined to comment for this article.

This time, the Cosbys did not pay by the letter’s mid-December deadline, according to the complaint. The bank is now demanding the $15.3 million that is left on the mortgage’s principal plus nearly $800,000 in interest and late charges.

Andrew Wyatt, a longtime spokesperson for Cosby, declined to comment.

Cosby has faced civil and criminal trials on allegations of sexual assault. He has denied all allegations.

Cosby settled for $3.4 million a lawsuit brought by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, in which she accused “America’s Dad” of drugging and assaulting her in his Cheltenham mansion in 2004. Cosby was criminally charged by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office in 2015 based on the allegations. A jury found him guilty in 2018, after a trial in which other accusers testified. Cosby was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in state prison.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2021 based on a decade-old promise by a previous Montgomery County district attorney that Cosby would never be charged, leading Cosby to provide incriminating testimony in a civil lawsuit.

Cosby sought to take out a $30 million loan against the six-story Upper East Side townhouse in 2017 to pay for his growing legal bills, Page Six reported at the time.

He continues to battle civil lawsuits by women who accuse him of sexual assault.

[icecream]

That bank's lawyer is a hack.