You could own this $10 million Raleigh mansion with Russian criminal history, safe room

The North Raleigh luxury home now selling for $10 million boasts eight bedrooms, 14 baths, a saltwater pool and a wine cellar fashioned from a bank vault.

Its listing describes sumptuous cherry wood paneling, heated limestone floors and a 1.8-acre lot that overlooks the 18th green at North Hills Country club.

And here’s a bonus for mansion-shoppers seeking a little intrigue:

It once got raided by the FBI.

If the house at 6510 New Market Way goes for the announced listing price, it would take the prize for most-expensive home ever sold in the Triangle MLS, the regional real estate market. The current record-holder in Rougemont went for $7 million in 2020.

House comes with a safe room

At 16,856 square feet, it could fit 8.3 of the nation’s median-sized homes inside its walls, and its 1,329-square-foot dining room is roughly the size of the eating space at MC, an Asian fusion restaurant in Cary that seats 50.

But the house comes with a history to match its attention-getting sales price and its advertised safe room.

Built in 2000, it was originally home to Wendy and Dean Painter Jr., who hosted numerous fund-raisers there before their divorce.

“When Wendy was building the house, she said she wanted to feel like she was living in a resort,” architect Bennett Strahan told Triangle Business Journal in 2007. “If so, this is probably the finest boutique hotel in the country.”

Listed then at $23 million, it sold to a “mystery buyer” for a mere $4.2 million in 2012, TBJ reported.

But its most storied occupants were Leonid and Tatyana Teyf, whose explosive story unfolded in federal court.

Born in Belarus, Teyf came to the United States in 2010 having led one of the largest fishery and processing plants in Russia’s Volga region. His now ex-wife Tatyana joined him in Raleigh as a resident alien.

Russian Army, kickback scheme and alleged affair

Around that time, he arranged for subcontractors to supply the Russian army with food, equipment and laundry services, but he also “devised a scheme” to receive kickbacks from that government money — totaling roughly $150 million, according to his 2018 indictment.

Teyf and others had at least 70 financial accounts at four financial institutions, including trucking companies in Illinois and Utah and urgent-care services, including the Doctors Express in Cary, according to court documents and testimony.

Adding fuel to that drama, Teyf also believed his wife to be having an affair with his former housekeeper’s son, according to court records and testimony. Raleigh police had arrested Tatyana Teyf after she refused to leave his house.

Then in 2018, court records said, Teyf told his suspicions to a confidential informant and began planning the man’s murder, sometimes swinging to an alternate plan to have him deported instead.

This led to the FBI raid at New Market Way and his federal charges including 37 counts of money laundering and the murder-for-hire plot, most of which were dismissed.

Teyf pleaded guilty to bribery, visa fraud and making false statements on a tax documents, serving five years in prison on the promise he would be deported at its conclusion. Tatyana Teyf also pleaded guilty to false statement charges, but she served no prison time.

Though the Teyfs surrendered $6 million in assets, they kept the mansion. Wake County real estate records now show it solely in Tatyana Teyf’s name.

Listing agents with the Raleigh firm Engel & Volkers did not return The News & Observer’s call. Its Redfin listing lists the official sale date as Jan. 2, with tours available the next day.

Agents “will work hard to sell this home through innovative marketing techniques and relentless effort,” said Nikita Zhitov, license partner with Engel & Volkers Raleigh. “Their experience and expertise in the luxury market as they find a qualified buyer for this home.”