$20m townhouse sells after lengthy court battle

News Corp AustraliaFirst published 26 Aug 2026, 11:17amNew York PostThe expensive home is located in Manhattan. Picture: Supplied In less than a year, this US townhouse has gone from an alleged squatting scandal to a multimillion-dollar sale. Mansion Global reports the townhouse in Manhattan, which hit the market in May for $15 million (AUD $20.95 million), has entered into contract after most recently asking $13.99 million (AUD $19.54 million). The identity of the forthcoming owners — and they price they’re paying — are not yet known, but it will be a new chapter following the drama that embroiled the property earlier this year. In February, a California-based neurologist named Sarah Shalev — who’s tied to the LLC that owns the 6,650-square-foot townhouse — filed a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit claiming that the home’s live-in housekeeper, Hilarie Page, was squatting inside and preventing Shalev from entering. Sarah Shalev was fighting to access the home. Picture: Supplied Shalev’s estranged husband, the direct-to-consumer mattress executive, Craig Schmeizer, died in the home last November, New York Post reports. According to the complaint at that time, as The Post reported, “Pa...