Alpine Mansion at 2 Margo Way Transferred for $10 in March 2025 After Prior $20 Million Purchase

Daniyar Kessikbayev purchased the property at 2 Margo Way in Alpine, New Jersey, for $10 in March 2025, according to property records. The 17,150-square-foot home has nine bedrooms and sits on more than 3.1 acres. It was built in 2000 by construction mogul Joe Scott, who bought the land with his wife Nancy Scott for $1.55 million in 1997.

The same property sold in December 2012 for $20 million in cash to an anonymous shell company linked to Kessikbayev. At the time, the price set a record for a New Jersey home. Scott said the buyers wanted to close by year-end and paid for nearly everything inside the house, including the liquor.

He added that they offered an extra $5 million to host a pre-closing party, which his lawyer declined. Scott described the 2012 buyers as an older Russian man and an Oriental woman. He said the new owners wallpapered the basketball court and draped the ceiling.

Kessikbayev is married to Nooryana Najwa Najib, daughter of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is serving a prison sentence for his role in the $4.5 billion theft from 1MDB. Kessikbayev is the former nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s former leader. Tax assessors valued the home at just under $12.79 million in an earlier assessment and at $35.5 million for 2026.

Kessikbayev previously acquired a $20 million Plaza Hotel condo for $1 after his mother Maira was added to the deed. Bolat Nazarbayev, who had married Maira in 2001, filed a 2012 lawsuit alleging he was swindled out of more than $100 million, including the Plaza condo, two FiDi condos, a Miami oceanfront condo, and $75 million in jewels.

The suit settled out of court in 2014, with Bolat recovering the Plaza and FiDi properties while dropping claims to the jewels and 2 Margo Way.