Serial entrepreneur and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman has made a bunch of lucrative moves in his time - but his $27 million mega mansion certainly hasn't been one of them. His lawyers even called it a "lemon" in a recently filed lawsuit accusing the builder of negligence, fraud, and other failures.

The 950 Lombard St property in San Francisco was designed to be a state-of-the-art luxury mansion with all the trimmings, including a cantilevered infinity pool with a view of the US city's skyline. Unfortunately, the six bedroom, eight bathroom residence with nearly 9,500 square feet of living space wasn't a great buy, the AI maven's lawsuit [PDF] alleges. 

Altman "was misled into buying a $27,000,000 'lemon' and files this lawsuit to recover its losses under the Purchase Agreement and all applicable law," the lawsuit, filed in California, claims.

According to the complaint, defects in Altman's home have emerged since he moved in, many of which are allegedly tied to poor design and installation of the home's irrigation, draining, plumbing, and sewer systems. 

The home's pump room has leaked, multiple irrigation lines were incorrectly installed on the rooftop garden, water has leaked into the house from skylights, and raw sewage was even ejected onto the ground in a "hard to access area at the side of the residence" due to a bathroom sewer line being unconnected. Contractor bags were also found jammed into a sewer line, "apparently by a disgruntled, unpaid subcontractor," Altman's lawyers claim. 

Most recently, a massive leak from the infinity pool caused the entire sub-floor of the house to fill with water, and even collapsed the gypsum ceiling in the house's private gym. It's tough to be a Silicon Valley legend and still not get a good home in the SF Bay Area, it seems.

The lawsuit asks for damages, and while no amount is specified, it's claimed the home will need more than $4 million in repairs in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars already spent on repairs to date. 

Hello, Altman residence?

Altman isn't named explicitly in the lawsuit though it's not too difficult to connect the dots between the $27 million home and the AI mogul.

According to a search of California public records, Altman and his brother Jack's early-stage investment firm Apollo Projects was registered to 950 Lombard Street. 

The Apollo Projects LLC associated with that address is no longer active, and the company now claims its place of business is in Greenville, South Carolina. Nonetheless, the house hasn't been sold since 2020, and Altman is described in a Time magazine profile as living in a "$27 million home in San Francisco."  

The suit claims that, despite repeated attempts to reach out to the developer and builders of the home, no one ever bothered to respond to concerns. Altman's lawyers allege Troon Pacific, the developer of the project, was engaged in a conspiracy to pass off poor workmanship and cheap construction as high-quality, luxury work - and there's already some precedent to suggest that's the case. 

Troon was ordered by a San Francisco arbitrator earlier this year to pay $48.1 million back to investors who claimed the company - and Malin - squandered it through "fraudulent self-dealing" and "wanton dereliction of responsibilities" while doing stuff on the cheap to maximize profits. 

Neither representatives for Troon nor Altman responded to questions for this story. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/07/18/sam_altman_builder_lawsuit/