Back in 1980 — as oil prices were peaking in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution — Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer felt the itch to diversify his billion-dollar maritime empire. Enlisting his then 30-year-old son, Eyal, as his proxy, Ofer waded into New York’s real estate market, paying $800,000 for a brownstone on 42nd Street near Fifth Avenue that he quickly flipped for $1.8 million. Over the next three decades, the Ofers steadily expanded […]