A grieving widow sitting on a “Roblox” fortune recently shelled out nearly $16 million on one of Manhattan’s largest mansions to build a life with the male companion she claims then fleeced her for millions, property records reviewed by The Post show. Marianne Flippo, 49, closed on the iconic Kips Bay home on April 30, shelling out $15.9 million for the Gilded Age Beaux-Arts masterpiece just months before accusing her partner Gregg Starr, 38, of emptying her bank accounts. The 1903 mansion, built for banker James FD Lanier and his socialite wife Harriet, spans six stories and 11,638 square feet with 12 bedrooms and more than nine bathrooms, a wine cellar, an oak-paneled elevator, and a wellness floor complete with a cold pool and cedar sauna. Marianne Flippo and Gregg Starr. Courtesy of Youssef Mamdouh Marianne closed on the historic James FD Lanier House on April 30, paying $15.9 million for the six-story Gilded Age mansion. Carli Biryla The house is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece from 1903. Carli Biryla The property initially hit the market in 2023 for a whopping $29.2 million. It last listed for $16.5 million before closing at a slight discount, property records show. Flippo’s attorney, Larry Hutcher, confirmed to The Post that the purchase was not a solo whim. “She bought that house because she thought it was a beautiful property,” Hutcher said. “She thought it would be a nice home to live in.” The house has an area of 11,638 square feet. Carli Biryla The house has an oak-paneled elevator and a wellness floor with cold pool and sauna. Carli Biryla Flippo’s attorney, Larry Hutcher, told The Post that the purchase was intended for two people and said “she thought it would be a nice house to live in.” Carli Biryla The grand hall. Carli Biryla The mansion purchase landed directly inside the same window. Flippo now says Starr and an escort agency manager were pressuring her to shell out millions more under a bogus “buyout” scheme, according to her filing in Manhattan Supreme Court. Hutcher added that despite splurging on the Murray Hill trophy house, Flippo, whose husband, Chad, committed suicide in 2024, had not completely moved his life to the city. “She also still lives in New Hampshire,” he said. Starr is allegedly a male companion who Flippo met in December 2024 through an agency he initially believed offered personal assistants instead of paid companionship. Jason Lowrie/BFA.com/Shutterstock Hutcher noted that Flippo hadn’t completely abandoned her old life despite the massive purchase, saying “she still lives in New Hampshire too.” Carli Biryla The wood-panelled library. Carli Biryla The purchase of the mansion landed in the same window. Flippo now claims that Starr and an escort agency manager were forcing her to participate in a $10 million fraudulent “buying” scheme. Carli Biryla The historic mansion is designed by the same architects behind the FDR Presidential Library. Carli Biryla The home has estimated monthly costs well into six figures, including approximately $14,000 in property taxes alone. Carli Biryla Real estate records paint a portrait of a woman who restructured her entire geography around a man she had met just a year earlier. Flippo had spent decades in New England, with a documented address in Walpole, New Hampshire dating back to the late 1990s, before Starr moved into his New York apartment last December, according to the lawsuit. The relationship began innocently enough in December 2024, when Flippo, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, needed an Italian-speaking companion for a trip to Italy. She was directed to Cowboys 4 Angels, an agency she said she believed offered personal assistants, not paid companionship. She didn’t realize the team was actually a male escort service until well into the entanglement, the lawsuit claims. By this spring, prosecutors’ version of events and Flippo’s lawsuit allege, Starr and the agency were pressuring the medically fragile widow, binged on alcohol and recovering from surgery, to sign a $10 million “Exit Agreement” so she could supposedly buy her way out of her contract with the agency. A Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed this month now seeks to recover the stolen funds, and Flippo’s own filings describe a shared bank account that was reduced to just $12.61. Instagram/Gregg Starr One of the 12 bedrooms. Carli Biryla The large kitchen. Carli Biryla The great hall. Carli Biryla The outer patio. Carli Biryla Gregg, a photo posted to Instagram on November 29, 2021. Instagram/Gregg Starr She transferred $5.95 million to a joint Charles Schwab account before Starr allegedly transferred most of it to an account under her sole control and threatened to disappear with the cash. According to his own court documents, he ended up with his bank balance reduced to just $12.61. The Lanier House itself is not just any address. Designed by architects Hoppin and Koen, the same firm behind the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, the mansion was commissioned for a couple who were among the 400 exclusive guests who could fit inside the Astor family ballroom on Fifth Avenue. It is a New York City landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with only two owners in its more than 120-year history prior to this sale. Other features of the house include a gym and an oak-paneled library. Monthly maintenance costs for the property are well into six figures, and property taxes alone are estimated at approximately $14,000 a month, according to listing data.
