Onassis Island Sold To Russian Billionaire

Skorpios, the Greek island owned by Aristotle Onassis, has been sold for a price variously described as between $146 and $152 million. The private luxury island, which includes a helipad, was the site of where former first lady Jackie Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968.

According to legend, Onassis himself bought the island in 1962 for a measly $15,000 or so.

Onassis is buried on Skorpios, as is his daughter Christina and his son Alexander. The fate of Alexander was particularly sad, as he died in a plane crash when he was only 24.

The only surviving heir to the Onassis estate, Christina’s daughter and Aristotle’s grand-daughter Athina Onassis Roussel, is married to a Brazilian Olympian and lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Apparently, she has little interest in Skorpios or its history, and rumors had swirled that she would sell it to someone like Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft.

Now, the island has reportedly been bought by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rimpolovlef for his 23-year-old daughter Ekaterina Rybolovleva. The family previously made real estate news when he purchased an $88 million apartment for her in New York — the world’s most expensive apartment sale ever.

A Greek media report said that the Onassis island just sold will not be developed or exploited for tourism. That report speculated that Skorpios would again become a destination for the jet set. However, they warned that the island was more likely to become a tacky “reality show” gathering place, instead of a return to the halycon days of the tasteful wealth represented by Onassis and style icon Jackie Kennedy.

Stating that Rimpolovlef’s divorce from his ex-wife was rumored to cost him five billion dollars, the Greek report implied that the sales price of the Onassis island was small change to the billionaire.

[photo of Skorpios island owned by Aristotle Onassis estate by Aaeekkssoouullii via Wikipedia Commons]