Najib’s son-in-law bought US mansion for US$10, says report

PETALING JAYA: An extravagant mansion in the US is said to have been sold for US$10 (RM40) to the son-in-law of former prime minister Najib Razak, according to a report in the New York Post.

The daily reported that property records showed Daniyar Kessikbayev, who is married to Najib’s daughter Nooryana Najwa, obtained the property in March 2025.

The “castle-like property” on 2 Mango Way in Alpine, New Jersey was reported to be last on the market for US$34 million in 2011, before it was sold a year later for US$20 million in cash to an anonymous shell company linked to Kessikbayev, the report said quoting several anonymous sources.

Last month, prominent businessman Daing A Malek Daing Rahaman and Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor denied allegations circulating on social media linking them to the purchase of a US$13 million (RM52 million) mansion in Mango Way, New Jersey in July 2025. A social media post alleged he was a director of a company to which the property was transferred and that Rosmah had directed and funded the purchase.

The New York Post report said an insider close to Kessikbayev had stated that the mansion remained under his ownership, and had not been transferred to anyone else.

The 9-bedroom home, occupies 17,150 square feet (1,600 sq m) sits on more than 3.1 acres and contains a full-length basketball court, bowling alley, home theatre, a library, a wine cellar and a grotto, an elevator and a hotel-style saltwater pool with a second pool on the grounds outside.

The report quoted the former owner, construction mogul Joe Scott, that the buyers paid for almost everything in the house, “including the liquor.” He was quoted as saying that the deal was made by “an older Russian man and an Oriental woman”.