One of New Jersey’s most expensive homes in history has sold for $10 to the son-in-law of disgraced former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, Gimme Shelter can reveal.

Najib is currently in jail for his role in the $4.5 billion theft from 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Daniyar Kessikbayev — who is married to Najib’s daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib and is the ex-nephew of Kazakhstan’s former dictator, Nursultan Nazarbayev — snagged the swanky Alpine mansion at 2 Margo Way for $10 in March of 2025, according to property records. 

The castle-like property had last been on the market for $34 million in 2011, before it sold a year later, in 2012, for $20 million in cash to an anonymous shell company that was linked to Kessikbayev, several sources told Gimme Shelter. 

At the time in 2012, 2 Margo Way was the highest price ever paid for a New Jersey home. Since then, Alpine’s Stone Mansion sold for $27.5 million in 2022, and a Spring Lake beach house sold for $25 million last year.

The extravagant mansion at 2 Margo Way is currently all the buzz in Malaysia, after a viral social media post alleged that the jailed ex-PM’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, was involved in the purchase of 2 Margo Way with her son-in-law.

It was then alleged that she transferred it in May to Daran Investments Capital Inc., a British Virgin Islands registered company “through a confidential declaration of trust and claimed that businessman Tan Sri Daing A Malek Daing Rahaman was a shareholder in the company,” according to the Edge Malaysia.  

The report added that Rosmah and Daing A Malek denied the allegations, called them “defamatory,” and filed police reports earlier this month. 

An insider close to Kessikbayev told Gimme Shelter that the home remains under his ownership, and has not been transferred to anyone else, as reflected in the property records. 

While the home was earlier valued by tax assessors at just under $12.79 million, its 2026 tax assessment valued it at $35.5 million. 

‘It’s a beautiful street,” said a broker involved in deals on the street, which was once owned by New York billionaire power couple John and Margo Catsimatidis; hence, the street’s name. 

At 17,150 square feet, the 9 bedroom home sits on more than 3.1 acres. Inside, there’s everything from a full-length basketball court, and a bowling alley to a home theater, a library, a wine cellar and a grotto, an elevator and a hotel-style saltwater pool — a second pool is on the grounds outside. 

The home was built in 2000 and first owned by Nancy Scott and her husband, construction mogul Joe Scott, whose company, Mayrich Construction, worked on the underground footprints for trophy towers including 432 Park Ave., the Hearst Tower, Trump World Tower, the Bloomberg Tower and the AOL Time Warner Center, now known as the Deutsche Bank Center.  

The Scotts had purchased the property for $1.55 million in 1997. 

In an interview with Gimme Shelter, Scott said that his broker told him a buyer wanted to pay $20 million in cash — quickly.  

“It was December, and they wanted to close by the end of the year, so we sold it and moved into another house. It [$20 million] was a lot more than I had built it for,” Scott said, adding that the buyers paid for almost everything in the house, “including the liquor.” 

“They also wanted to host a party at the house before the closing. My lawyer said no — even after they offered us $5 million before the closing. I’m old school,” Scott said, adding that he didn’t know who bought it. 

“An older Russian man and an Oriental woman made the deal. I heard a million stories [about the owners] but I don’t care. As long as they paid me, that’s all I care about,” Scott said. 

He added that the new buyers had unusual decorating taste.

“They wallpapered the basketball court and draped the ceiling. I don’t want to talk about how bad they destroyed the house. I built it and my wife designed it — and they destroyed it,” said Scott. 

He added that the new owners “had some parties there.” 

A history of low value purchases

This is not the first time that Kessikbayev has snagged a $20 million residence for less than the price of a Manhattan cocktail. 

He also once bought a $20 million Plaza Hotel condo for $1. 

In 2001, Kessikbayev’s mom Maira married Bolat Nazarbayev, brother of Kazakhstan’s authoritarian ruler from 1989 to 2019. (At the time, Maira legally changed her son’s last name to Nazarbayev. Maira has also been known by various last names: Nazarbayeva, Kurmangaliyeva and Kessikbayeva.)

Seven years later, in 2008, Bolat bought a $20 million condo at the Plaza Hotel. Kessikbayev, who had Bolat’s power of attorney, added his mom’s name to the deed and then bought it from her for $1.

But by 2011, the grift was up. 

That year, Bolat and Maira’s marriage was annulled, and Maira was arrested in Dubai on an Interpol ‘red notice’ issued by Kazakhstan, where she was placed under house arrest for charges including fraud, kidnapping (reportedly a romantic rival) and extortion. 

The same year, Kessikbayev got engaged to Nooryana Najwa Najib, the daughter of Malaysia’s then- prime minister.

By 2012, Bolat filed a lawsuit in Manhattan state supreme court against Maira and Kessikbayev, alleging they “swindled” him out of more than $100 million, including the $20 million Plaza Hotel condo. 

He also alleged they bought two FiDi condos at 55 Wall St for $4.35 million, an oceanfront condo in Miami, and $75 million in jewels from Jacob & Co. for Maira on his dime. 

The lawsuit also alleged that Kessikbayev cheated his way into Columbia University.

That December, 2 Margo Way sold to an anonymous shell company for $20 million. 

By 2013, Maira returned to New York from Kazakhstan to testify in the trial. In legal letters, Bolat’s lawyers claimed that Maira and Kessikbayev had also bought 2 Margo Way with his money. 

The following year, in 2014, the case was settled out of court. The terms included giving Bolat the Plaza Hotel condo and the FiDi residences while he agreed to drop his claim to the jewels and 2 Margo Way, according to reports. 

Then in 2015, Maira and Daniyar were also sued in Manhattan federal court by Bella Belkin for allegedly stiffing her company for $400,000 worth of Birkin bags in New York they supposedly bought but never paid for.

The case was also settled out of court, the Post reported.

The $20 million purchase of 2 Margo Way in 2012 came at a time when tens of millions of dollars stolen from Malaysia – and, separately, from Kazakhstan — were flooding into American real estate.