Nello Balan, owner of Nello, an Upper East Side restaurant (and favored Wall Street eatery), has sold a 4 pound, $95,000 white truffle to Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, according to the New York Post.
It may be the largest white truffle ever sold.
Bloomberg estimates Potanin's net worth at around $13.5 billion. He is one of a dozen or so Russian businessmen known as an "
Potanin's wealth comes from nickel - he owns 30.4 percent owner of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of the commodity.
Potanin spends most of his time in Moscow, so it's likely that the truffle won't be in NYC for long. Given how serious the truffle bubble is getting in this town, though, that could be a good for all of us.