{"id":545421,"date":"2026-03-26T01:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545421\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:16:08","slug":"bill-cosby-has-128m-fortune-despite-claiming-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545421\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby has $128M fortune \u2014 despite claiming poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Cosby has been claiming he is too poor to afford the $59 million damages a California court ruled he should pay this week after losing a sex assault lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But sources close to the once-beloved entertainer, 88, estimate his net worth is even larger than a reported figure of $128 million from his properties, art collection and residuals from his career.<\/p>\n

In a deposition for the civil trial, Cosby complained about being iced out of working for over 10 years and claimed, \u201cMy net worth has gone down like a submarine with no motor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Cosby, surrounded by supporters, celebrates his prison release outside his Elkins Park, Pa., mansion in 2021. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Elkins Park mansion, located near Philadelphia, where Bill Cosby grew up and played college football, was financed via the massive career he once had. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Over that time, he was sent to prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, a conviction which was overturned on appeal. The jury in the civil trial, which just concluded, found the claims of another woman who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her, ex-waitress Donna Motsinger, to be true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judge made him turn over all his financials [before the damages were rendered],\u201d Cosby\u2019s former manager, Andrew Wyatt, told The Post. \u201cThey looked at his net worth and said its $128 million. But it might be a little more. You have to look at the massive art collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cosby and his wife, Camille, 82, possess museum-worthy works of art. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, in 2018, there were at least 300 works, including paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Rembrandt and Matisse.<\/p>\n

One residence on the massive property that the Cosbys own in Shelburne, Mass., has a sing reading: \u201cIf you are not invited DO NOT pass through these gates.\u201d AP<\/p>\n

Bill Cosby, far from his life of mansions and private chefs, is led in shackles from the Montgomery County Courthouse. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s former curator, David Driskell, claimed in an early 2000s book that they have \u201cthe most significant collection in the hands of an African American family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple also has several prestigious properties, including an estate in Shelburne Falls, Mass., which sources say he has been offered $30 million for in 2016.<\/p>\n

Sitting on 650 acres, with around five buildings, the property is where Cosby retreated following his release from prison in 2021, after serving three years of a 10-year sentence.<\/p>\n

There he is tended to by a driver and chef, and the spread boasts a gym, a barn-sized entertainment center and Black Angus cows, according to Wyatt.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHe has all the luxuries that an 88-year-old person [could want],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bill Cosby\u2019s mock-Tudor mansion in Pacific Palisades, Calif., apparently boasts leather floors. Associated Press<\/p>\n

Cosby\u2019s limestone townhouse at 18 East 71st Street in Manhattan was recently sold for more than $20 million. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n

Cosby\u2019s townhouse on East 61st Street in Manhattan remains in his real estate portfolio. Google maps<\/p>\n

He and Camille also have a 4,500-square-foot, four-bedroom home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with four bedrooms, four baths, a gated driveway and leather floors. An offer of $14 million was made for it in 2016 but it was turned down<\/p>\n

Near Cosby\u2019s hometown of Philadelphia, in Elkins Park, they own an estate, with its 8,940-square-foot home, purchased in 1983 for $225,000. It is estimated to be worth $7.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In New York City, the family has a townhouse on East 61st Street, valued at $7 million.<\/p>\n

This Thomas Hart Benton painting, called \u201cGoing West,\u201d was sold by Camille Cosby. It is one example from what is apparently an extensive Cosby collection.<\/p>\n

This paintng, \u201cThe Lesson,\u201d was used as collateral to secure a multi-million-dollar loan.<\/p>\n

All of the Cosbys homes are under the name of Bill\u2019s wife, Camille, who set about securing a collateral loan on some art pieces. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Wyatt noted all the properties are in Camille\u2019s name, rather than Cosby\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Cosby recently sold another Manhattan digs<\/a>, on East 71st\u00a0Street, for $28 million, and he unloaded a 9,500-square-foot Santa Monica, Calif., building for $11.8 million in 2015 and three years later moved two commercial properties for another $26 million.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Camille sold a painting by Thomas Hart Benton, \u201cGoing West,\u201d and used another one, \u201cThe Instruction\u201d as collateral on a $3 million loan.<\/p>\n

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the loan was facilitated by Asher Edelman\u2019s art finance firm<\/a>. \u201cIt came to me through an agent,\u201d Edelman, who made the loan and was paid back, told The Post. \u201cThat agent charged them a very big fee for getting this loan because, I gather, it was difficult to get at the time. She was the borrower and she was the owner, according to the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dealing with blindness, Bill Cosby enjoys listening to sports on the radio. WireImage<\/p>\n

Gallery owner Buck Kiechel told Bloomberg Businessweek that he estimates the combined value of the two Bentons to be in the $12 to $14 million range.<\/p>\n

In his deposition for the civil trial, Cosby complained about having \u201cnot worked in 10 years\u201d and having not \u201cearned a cent through my being an entertainer, a writer, a television performer, except in reruns.\u201d However, that may change soon.<\/p>\n

Last year, Netflix greenlit a reboot of \u201cThe Cosby Show\u201d spinoff \u201cA Different World<\/a>.\u201d Cosby was involved in creating the original, which aired from 1987 to 1993.<\/p>\n

The gated entry and a sign warning away trespassers is designed to ward off those who want a glimpse of Bill Cosby\u2019s posh digs in Elkins Park, Penn. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that it\u2019s Netflix and he would be getting both an executive producer credit and extra for agreeing to keep his name off, I\u2019d say the range [Cosby would receive] is $75,000 to $100,000 per episode,\u201d a network executive said according to Kim Masters at news website Puck. Netflix has apparently committed to 10 episodes.<\/p>\n

Cosby\u2019s lawyer declined to comment when approached by The Post. The ex-funnyman now leads a somewhat reclusive life. He is legally blind and spends the majority of his time sequestered in the Shelburne Falls estate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Cosby watches a lot of \u2018Gunsmoke\u2019 that\u2019s his favorite show,\u201d said Wyatt, pointing out that Cosby\u2019s blindness prevents him from being able to actually see the TV screen. \u201cHe listens to a lot of sports. He\u2019ll be listening to March Madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps aiming to put a favorable spin on things, but actually making Cosby\u2019s life sound sad and lonely, Wyatt recalled from the post-disgrace days when he managed the once beloved funny man, \u201cHe would call me at five in the morning and we would have at least 15 calls a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for in person social-interaction, Wyatt said, \u201cMrs. Cosby has pretty much kept him secluded. Everything is done over the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although almost everyone else has deserted Cosby, Camille is the one constant he can count on. \u201cI\u2019m going to support him right to the end,\u201d she told a Shelburne Falls local who conveyed this to The Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby has been claiming he is too poor to afford the $59 million damages a California court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[3072,23365,243386,243387,236,48656,88,3234,1170],"class_list":["post-545421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-assault","tag-bill-cosby","tag-bill-cosby-in-court","tag-camille-cosby","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-real-estate","tag-entertainment","tag-pennsylvania","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}