Posted in: Comics, Ike Perlmutter, Marvel Comics | Tagged: harold peerenboom, ike perlmutter, laura perlmutter

Harold Peerenboom Ordered To Pay Ike & Laura Perlmutter $50 Million

Harold Peerenboom has been ordered by US courts to pay $50 million to former Marvel Chair Ike Perlmutter and his wife Laura Perlmutter,

Canadian businessman Harold Peerenboom has been ordered by US courts to pay fifty million dollars to former Marvel Chair Ike Perlmutter, though his wife, Laura Perlmutter, gets the lion's share.

As Bleeding Cool readers will know, the 14-year dispute between Toronto businessman Harold Peerenboom and the Perlmutters was over who runs the tennis club in the Palm Beach private resort known as The Residences At Sloans Curve that neighbour Mar-A-Lago. The matter turned into a local smear leaflet campaign, with accusations of DNA theft, false flags, Marvel employees, Marvel e-mails, Florida supreme court, imported abuse kits and FBI involvement.  But it only took the jury four hours to find in favour of the Perlmutters in the civil suit. Isaac Perlmutter received a mere $16,011, but his wife, Laura, received a full $50,016,011.

The clash between neighbours originated over the chosen tennis instructor, employed by the gated community, and allegations that she had secured the job because she was a friend of the Perlmutters, and Peerenboom had attempted to have her replaced. The tennis instructor then sued Peerenboom, with Perlmutter funding her case. This was followed by poison-pen letters being sent around neighbours, reprinting negative Canadian press articles about Peerenboom, which years later Perlmutter admitted in court to having sent. These were then followed by much more serious anonymous mailings, alleging sexual assault and murder, which were sent to businesses, schools and prisons, which the Perlmutters denied sending. As the court cases mounted, Peerenboom said he suspected the Perlmutters were behind the letters and used their appearance to give evidence as a way to obtain their DNA, with private investigators for DNA testing, though results were inconclusive. Then, a former employee of Peerenboom was intercepted by the FBI with a hate mail creation kit imported from Canada, with the Perlmutters alleging that this was a false flag attempt to suggest the Perlmutters were behind the second campaign, even as they admitted to the first. Peerenboom's claims were dismissed in 2021, but there were counterclaims from the Perlmutters. And the jury accepted their claims of civil conspiracy to steal DNA, abuse of process, and defamation, and awarded additional damages for loss of enjoyment of life and humiliation.

Perlmutter's lawyer Joshua Dubin stated to the National Post, "Laura Perlmutter spent her whole life with a sterling reputation. She was known for philanthropy. She was known for giving to her community and those in need. All she had was her name. And I think that the facts were very clear that being accused of a crime you didn't commit, being accused of being involved in this awful hate-mail campaign, is about as devastating as it gets. And I think that the damages were perfectly appropriate." While Jordan Cohen, Peerenboom's lawyer,  "While we continue to have the utmost faith in the jury system, we take issue with their verdict on the defamation claim, where they were invited into error and rendered a verdict unsupported by the evidence presented at trial. We do not litigate matters in the press and will reserve our post-verdict and appellate arguments for the courts."

Both men still own properties at Sloans Curve, though the Perlmutters have been looking to sell one of theirs. The New York Post reported that Perlmutter had increased the price of their house at 2 Sloans Curve from $19 million to $25 million, stating that it was "thanks to New Yorkers fleeing" after the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York mayor. It is notable that the Permlutters family has been one of Trump's biggest donors, and as members of Mar-A-Lago, have become firm friends. Laura Perlmutter was on Trump's Inauguration Committee, and Ike Perlmutter joined the Trump administration in Veterans Affairs. They have dined with Trump instead of his family on Thanksgiving, sat behind Trump next to Elon Musk at his second inauguration, and recently appeared sitting next to him at his Halloween party, after donating towards the new White House Ballroom.

So its in this context that the New York Post quotes broker Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties saying "The exodus of high-earners from New York to South Florida right now is both an overnight phenomenon over the past few months, since the results of the mayor's race Democratic primary, and especially in the past week since the election, but we believe it will also be a slow burn involving full family relocations".

However, it is also worth noting that the Perlmutters purchased this house for $10 million in April 2023 and listed it for $21 million in December 2023. In the summer of 2025, the price was down to $19 million. Is it really any more likely to sell now that it is at $25 million? Mamdani  or no Mamdani?

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