London-based billionaire Lily Safra is the buyer of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture that fetched a record $103.4 million at a London auction.

“It was a freak result,” said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund.

“But there are wealthy people out there desperate to buy rare pieces and when something important comes up with a sensible estimate the bidding goes crazy.”

Safra is the widow of Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, who passed away in 1999.

The rumor and gossip about billionaire widow Lily Safra’s notoriously high maintenance Villa Leopolda seems never to end.

Back in August we reported that Russian billionaire Mikail Prokhorov was the mysterious purchaser of the lavish home in Villefranche-sur-Mer which was on the market for a record price of 390 million euros.

Then came a report in early January of 2009 in The Londoner’s Diary that stated The Widow Safra’s trophy estate had, in fact, not been sold.