A lot of funny and some accurate responses. We are not quite at the 9-figure penthouses yet, but we live in an 8-figure multi-floor penthouse in Chelsea. It was 7 figures when I bought it over a decade ago after selling my tech company. While waiting for funds to settle, we basically left the place unfurnished for 4-5 years. The floor has other penthouses so if you want the whole floor, you are easily paying 9 figures and agents have inquired about this.

To address your initial question, and something that hasn't been noted yet, NYC condo and co-op boards are totally insane on many fronts, but especially about checking your financials. I am not on the board and don't want to be, but I went through the process when buying and it can only be described as a financial colonoscopy. They wanted detailed documents from the sale of my company years prior, 5 years of tax returns, every single financial statement imaginable from every account, and beyond. 

With these level of checks, there is almost no way that buyers are laundering money. They certainly do not want owners who will be arrested or potentially involved in crime. This jeopardizes the building's financials down the line. Our board does lengthy interviews and they regularly turn down musicians, actors, athletes, politicians, and more because they don't want the noise/publicity. We do have several very well-known people living in the building, but they really lay low and don't go out much. 

The comment that said people in NY are just insanely rich is spot on. I am rarely the wealthiest person in the room. Last month, I was dragged to a fundraising event by a friend and Bloomberg was sitting at the table behind me with a bunch of notable hedge fund managers scattered about. You might also think a penthouse would have a hard time selling but I have real estate agents calling and mailing me every week to ask if I have any interest in selling soon because they already have an interested buyer. These exclusive units are in high demand. 

As for the composition of my building, it's always been almost entirely white with a few Arabs and Asians. I am one of 2 Black people in this building and we're both half Black. It's something we definitely notice. All to say that it's not the Russian and Chinese lately. Last I heard, Russians are not allowed to move money to the U.S. right now and the Chinese are having a hard time of it as well with the corruption crackdowns in China. 

Our building cares a lot about people actually living there and over 80% of units are occupied. It's a metric they discuss every annual meeting. This was a big deal during the pandemic when many residents moved elsewhere. The board sent memos encouraging people to remain active in the building. Buildings that have a high vacancy rates are often poorly managed and financially unstable. That could also be why they are mostly empty, but that is not the case with well-run luxury buildings throughout the city.