Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

$100K Jewelry Thief Raids Luxury Park Ave. Building — Home to Many Jews

A jewelry thief has reportedly struck four times this summer in a luxury Park Ave. building that is home to many prominent Jews, making off with more than $100,000 in baubles.

The New York Post reported that the thief or thieves has stolen rings, watches and other jewelry from apartments at tony 740 Park Ave., where Jacqueline Kennedy Onnasis once lived.

The victims of the thefts at the stately 1926 tower on E. 71st St. were not named by the police, but residents of the luxury building include Ronald Lauder, Israel Englander and money manager Ezra Merkin.

“Residents are paranoid,” a source told the paper. “Most of the victims didn’t realize when their items went missing. Many people have access, including service staff and workers. “

The string of thefts started around Memorial Day and have continued through the summer. Some of the losses were not immediately reported, possibly because the owners possess so many valuable items.

A watch was stolen from the sixth floor, where the paper says residents include investment manager Thomas Strauss and Merkin, who lost more than $2 billion with Bernie Madoff.

Between June 10 and June 16, a watch and earrings disappeared from the 14th floor where billionaire Englander lives.

In 2005, author Michael Gross published a detailed book on the building and its history, 740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.