Disgraced television star Bill Cosby and his wife Camille owe a whopping $17.5 million on an Upper East Side townhouse the actor bought as a surprise gift for her, according to court records and reports.
It’s the second Manhattan foreclosure in less than a month for the disgraced “America’s Dad,” whose reputation went up in flames after 60 women accused him of sexual assault.
He and Camille have defaulted on a $17.5 million loan taken against18 East 71st, a six-story, 12,060-square-foot home built in 1899 which sits just steps from Central Park in the Upper East Side Historic District.
Cosby secretly bought the property through a lawyer for $6.2 million in 1987, at the height of his fame on NBC’s “The Cosby Show.”
It was supposed to be a present for Camille, but the couple later accused Mary Waller, the lawyer who oversaw the purchase, of embezzling millions from them, and by 1990 put the property in the name of Camille’s mother, records show.
The couple hasn’t paid anything on the loan since June, and also owes more than $300,000 in taxes on the property, according to Manhattan Supreme Court papers filed by First Foundation Bank.