Cruise’s One Hyde Park residence has sparked fury amongst Londoners who see it as a haven for the world’s shady elite.
Aug. 14 2024, Revealed 12:00 p.m. ET
He’s notorious for his love of secrecy.
And now RadarOnline.com can reveal Tom Cruise is being slammed for splurging $223million to affix the ranks of the “shadowy” residents in one of many world’s most costly – and controversial – buildings.
We solely informed earlier this month how the 62-year-old Mission: Not possible A-lister has dropped an enormous chunk of his estimated $600million fortune to maneuver right into a sprawling high-security pad that takes up a complete flooring close to the highest of the ultra-exclusive One Hyde Park constructing in London, close to Buckingham Palace – and which additionally sits solely three miles from the Church of Scientology London at 146 Queen Victoria Road.
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Cruise dropped practically half of his estimated $600million fortune for a complete flooring contained in the hulking high-rise.
Whereas the Hollywood icon basks in luxurious, his buy is stoking rising rage over the constructing amongst London residents who’re livid it shields “shady” power-players.
One supply stated: “This constructing looms over London and dominates its skyline, but nobody is allowed to know who lives there, for the way lengthy or why.
“There have been rumors for years it’s acquired everybody from arms sellers to on-the-run dictators and the world’s strongest oil barons holed up there.
“Who else, in any case, might afford to reside there?
“It’s only a image of the huge hole between those that have all of it, and the remainder of us, who’ve just about nothing.”
Cruise had been splashing $430,000 per week on his One Hyde Park penthouse, however an insider informed RadarOnline.com he had taken the leap to change into a everlasting resident as his alleged romance with disabled singer Victoria Canal, 26, heats up within the metropolis.
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dCruise has been based mostly in London for months – as his rumored relationship with one-armed singer Victoria Canal heats up.
Developed by the flamboyant Sweet brothers, Nick and Christian, along with Waterknights – the worldwide property-development firm owned by former Qatar prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani – his new residence has repeatedly come beneath scrutiny for greater than 10 years.
Consultants have lambasted the monolithic glass-and-concrete construction as every part from an “opulent trophy mission” to a “vulgar” show of wealth.
Architectural historian Professor Gavin Stamp is amongst its hordes of critics – and has slated it as an “over-sized gated group for folks with more cash than sense, arrogantly plonked down within the coronary heart of London”.
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The secrecy surrounding One Hyde Park is as thick because the bulletproof glass that traces its home windows.
With superior panic rooms and its corridors and lobbies patrolled by personal guards educated by British Particular Forces, the constructing is a fortress for the world’s elite. Residents’ e-mail is even X-rayed earlier than being delivered as a part of its airport-style safety.
Peter York, co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook about London’s posh secrets and techniques, sneered concerning the constructing: “The vibe is junior Arab dictator.”
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A supply stated about One Hyde Park, above proper: “It’s only a image of the huge hole between those that have all of it, and the remainder of us, who’ve just about nothing.”
Critics additionally argue the constructing’s emphasis on secrecy and safety has turned it right into a haven for the worldwide super-rich – lots of whom are believed to cover behind offshore firms registered in tax havens.
This has led to accusations that One Hyde Park is extra of a “ghost city” than a residential group – with many residences owned by faceless firms relatively than people.
As Cruise settles into his new penthouse – full with a double-height reception room, a Japanese-inspired kitchen, and a personal spa – the controversy over One Hyde Park’s future in London rages on.
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An insider stated: “Some see it as the head of luxurious, however most of London – the equal of hundreds of thousands of individuals – hate it.
“They don’t care Cruise is there – for years they’ve simply seen it as a evident instance of the excesses of the super-rich and a stark reminder of the widening hole between the rich elite and the remainder of society.”
They added: “Cruise is clearly famend for loving his secrecy – which is clear from the best way he has change into one in every of Scientology’s most senior advocates.
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Cruise’s new $223million house is simply over three miles down the highway from the Church of Scientology London at 146 Queen Victoria Road.
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“There’s a Scientology base in London very close to his new complicated, so it fits him right down to the bottom.”
An audit of actions across the constructing has proven its penthouses have largely absentee homeowners who disguise behind offshore firms based mostly in tax havens.
It dominates the south exit of London’s Knightsbridge subway station, with its hulking joined-up towers of glass, steel and concrete looming over the town.
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Its builders hailed it because the world’s most unique handle when it opened – in addition to the most costly residential improvement ever constructed anyplace on the planet.
It’s fitted with a glass-and-steel elevator that enables residents to drive their bullet-proof automobiles straight into the basement storage – and zip unseen into their fortress residences.
The biggest of its unique 86 residences characteristic is pierced by 213-foot-long mirrored corridors of glass, protected by anodized aluminum and padded silk for insulation.
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The 4 looming monoliths of glass, concrete and bullet-proof glass was hailed because the world’s most unique handle when it opened in 2011.
Slanted vertical slats on the home windows cease outsiders from peering into the residences.
Funding banker David Charters, who works in Mayfair, informed Self-importance Honest concerning the constructing in 2013: “One Hyde Park is an emblem of the instances, an emblem of the disconnect.
“There’s nearly a way of ‘the Martians have landed.’ Who’re they? The place are they from? What are they doing?”
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The constructing is shrouded in darkness at evening – as a result of a lot of the homeowners of the residences inside spend barely any time in London.
Land-registry data present 76 residences had been offered by January 2013 for a complete of $2.7billion.
However of those, solely 12 had been registered within the names of people – with the remaining beneath the names of faceless firms based mostly in all places from California to Thailand.
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Funding banker David Charters stated: “One Hyde Park is an emblem of the instances, an emblem of the disconnect.”
Lots of them are registered in well-known offshore tax havens, such because the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Liechtenstein, and the Isle of Man.
Arab cash has swamped London, together with money from Russia and China – with floods of it used to purchase up property within the capital’s ‘golden triangle’ of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and close by Mayfair.
Nick Sweet, 51, who’s married to pop singer Holly Valance, has defined One Hyde Park’s success by declaring: “That is the highest metropolis on the earth, and one of the best tax haven on the earth for some.”
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In 2004, his brother Christian arrange the CPC Group – registered within the tax haven of Guernsey – to deal with their big tasks together with the super-secret condominium block.
There was hypothesis the penthouses inside have been owned by everybody from a super-rich Russian drugmaker to personal bankers, tech bosses and sheikhs.
One was recognized as Rinat Akhmetov, 57, often known as Ukraine’s richest man and the 785th richest particular person on the planet with an estimated private web value of $4billion.
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Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov is likely one of the billionaires identified to have had a One Hyde Park residence to his identify.
His System Capital Administration company – through which Akhmetov holds 100% of the shares – contains greater than 100 companies in metals and mining, energy technology, banking and insurance coverage, telecommunications, media, actual property and extra.
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