With its sweeping vistas over the Pacific Ocean, majestic oak ceiling and impeccably designed interior, it is undoubtedly a house fit for royalty.
And viewers of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series might be forgiven for assuming the couple had been filmed inside their £11 million ($13 million) mansion in Montecito, California.
But the MoS can reveal that the luxurious setting was, in fact, a magnificent property even more expensive than their own – a £27.3 million ($33 million), 13,599 sq ft, six-bedroom ‘iconic’ Montecito estate mansion, which is currently up for sale.
What is less known is that the mansion had belonged to disgraced Quadriga Arts CEO Mark Schulhof, who was previously charged with pocketing $116 million in a fundraising scam targeting disabled veterans.
Viewers of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series might be forgiven for assuming the couple had been filmed inside their £11 million ($13 million) mansion in Montecito, California
According to the estate agent’s gushing description of 888 Lilac Lane (pictured)– a nine-minute drive from the Sussexes’ real home, which they bought in 2020 – the mansion used for filming boasts a Wimbledon-quality lawn, pool, spa, private gym and pebbled walkways. It belongs to wealthy businessman and eco-activist Mark Schulhof
According to the estate agent’s gushing description of 888 Lilac Lane – a nine-minute drive from the Sussexes’ real home, which they bought in 2020 – the mansion used for filming boasts a Wimbledon-quality lawn, pool, spa, private gym and pebbled walkways.
While the couple never actually claimed the house in the Netflix show was theirs, its interior, with its crystal chandeliers, lofty 24ft-high ceilings and private cinema, attracted much comment.
Prestigious Architectural Digest magazine praised the mansion’s ‘great room’, ‘which is flooded with light from the double-height arched windows that line the back of the house’.
But others criticised the couple for being ‘tone deaf’ for being filmed inside such a lavish home amid a global cost of living crisis.
A Hollywood producer said: ‘It struck me as a little tone deaf to shoot in such opulent surroundings when there is so much suffering in the real world.’
While the ‘location house’ has its own chicken coop, as Meghan and Harry’s home does, it does not match the Sussexes’ mansion in one respect. It has 16 bathrooms, while Lilac Lane boasts only six.
While the couple never actually claimed the house in the Netflix show was theirs, its interior, with its crystal chandeliers, lofty 24ft-high ceilings and private cinema, attracted much comment
The house is worth more than double the Sussex’s actual home in Montecito (above)
The criticisms build on the fact that the home belonged to the man accused of orchestrating a $116 million scam against disabled veterans.
In 2014, then New York Attorney General Eeric Schneiderman mounted an investigation against Schulhof and Quadriga for creating a fake veteran named Arnie who suffered brain damage while serving in Afghanistan.
Schulhof and his company were charged with sending out fake mailers to raise money for the Disabled Veterans National Foundation charity, where they would pocket 90 percent of the donations.
The investigation found that in 2008, Quadriga raised only $10.1 million on the books, but billed the charity $15.6 million for their services.
It caused the non-profit to go into debt as Schulhof began netting 100 percent of the fundraising efforts in order for the DVNF to pay off its debt to the fraudsters.
In its settlement with the Attorney General’s Office, Quadriga agreed to pay $24.6 millions to the DVNF.
The company was also ordered to forgive $13.8 million in debt from the charity, as well as paying a $9.7 million fine and a $800,000 bill for the investigation.
The total payments went directly to helping real veterans that were supposed to receive the aid in the first place.
