There exists a man-made haven, spanning 216 acres, just off Miami’s shores. It brands itself as a haven for those who cherish the pinnacle of seclusion and privacy.

Accessible only via helicopter or boat, with homes averaging a price of $7.2 million, residents set foot on the exclusive shores of Fisher Island, content with the knowledge that they’ve arrived in America’s most affluent zip code.

Celebrity residents have included Oprah Winfrey, tennis professional Caroline Wozniacki and her spouse, former NBA star David Lee, alongside billionaire entrepreneurs such as Mark Sutcliffe, the founder of the software firm Redzone. Until lately, supermodel Karolina Kurkova and her real estate tycoon husband, Archie Drury, who relocated to the island back in 2012, were also part of this elite community.

But in February, Kurkova and Drury filed a legal complaint against the Fisher Island Club and fired the starting gun on a vicious dispute that shattered the island’s placid mood.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Kurkova’s spokesperson, Melanie Bonvicino said, ‘Fisher Island is a community under siege…[where] fear now governs discourse.’

At the heart of it all is the Fisher Island Club. Membership starts at $250,000 with an annual fee on top of that initial payment. A stroll along the private beach with sand imported from the Bahamas and an observatory for stargazing is conditional on membership. If you want to access the island’s golf course, full-service spa, private school, grocery stores, restaurants or even medical clinics you must be in the Club.

It’s a dynamic that some former residents who requested anonymity told Daily Mail gives the Club’s board of five elected members enormous – even tyrannical – power.

‘You can’t live on the island without being a member of the club because you can’t use the restaurants, you can’t use the facilities, you can’t go to the market. You’d have to get on the ferry to do your dry cleaning. Whatever it is, you have to be a member of the Club,’ said one former member, who insisted on anonymity.

Indeed, several members expressed fear when discussing the inner workings of The Club. Because, for all the ill-will and the alleged abuses, it seems that, for many, the only thing worse than being in the Club is being out, which is what Kurkova and Drury claim happened to them.

In legal filings obtained by the Daily Mail, Kurkova and Drury allege that the Club’s board of directors targeted and threatened them in a coordinated plot designed to strip them of their membership after Drury left his job at Douglas Elliman in 2023 and started working as an independent real estate agent on the island.

Two of the then-Club board members, David Chene and Mark Zeitchick, also sit on the board of directors of Douglas Elliman, which Kurkova and Drury’s lawsuit claimed posed ‘significant conflicts of interest.’

‘Shortly after leaving Douglas Elliman, my life on Fisher Island deteriorated very rapidly,’ read Drury’s statement in a court document.

The Club board members have strongly denied the allegations made against them and moved to have the suit dismissed.

‘These allegations are entirely false. The Club has neither silenced nor retaliated against any Club member for voicing an opinion,’ a spokesperson told the Daily Mail. ‘Not a single member has been expelled for speaking out against the Board.’

In legal filings made on its behalf, the board claims the couple’s membership was revoked after a series of incidents, including that Drury allegedly ‘stole’ a White Range Rover from fellow resident David Lee.

Drury claims he took the car by mistake as it was identical to his own, and no criminal charges have ever been brought.

The couple also allegedly sought to ‘defraud’ the Club by trying to give a second membership they purchased to a tenant, which Drury and Kurkova claim they were allowed to do under the Club’s own by-laws.

There is a long list of rules that all members must adhere to.

But there is, perhaps, one regulation above all others. ‘If anyone does a thing viewed as being contra to the good will of the Club… they have suspended a few people for that,’ a source told the Daily Mail. And, the resident said, the board can choose when to apply to rules at their own discretion.

‘The rules are only enforced when it’s convenient. If you have a vendetta against a certain person you can look closely and find fault with everybody. If you want to let it slide you can let it slide.’

Drury and Kurkova’s lawyer, Jennifer Altman, believes that’s what happened to her clients.

She told the Daily Mail, ‘By invoking vague “disharmony” clauses, the Board continues to chill free speech while suppressing legitimate questions about its governance – punishing club members with 30-day suspensions that strip them of access to even basic necessities like the market or medical clinic.’

The Club vehemently denies the claims, telling the Daily Mail: ‘Disciplinary actions are undertaken only after a thorough and impartial internal review, in strict accordance with established policies and procedures.

‘These measures are not reactionary—they are deliberate, and they reflect the Club’s responsibility to uphold the standards expected of a private institution of this caliber. As with all private membership organizations, the Club retains full authority to set and enforce its rules of conduct, which includes the right to discipline individuals whose behavior is disruptive or in violation of the Club’s rules and standards of behavior.’

Regardless, the row involving Drury and Kurkova has grown so bad, it’s even driven some people to leave.

‘I’d been a member for a long time – and in the last year I got rid of it because of all this insanity,’ another former member told the Daily Mail. ‘The whole point of joining the Club was to have some enjoyment, and it was like that for a really long time.’

‘The things I saw were startling. The way they treated him was insane,’ they added, referring to Drury’s case, ‘It was such a great place – it feels to me like it was very self-interested – it’s not integrity based. I feel really bad for these people. They were really targeted by the island.’

But no matter how unpleasant both sources say it has gotten, they don’t want to risk angering the Club by being named.

‘That’s why I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to get punished,’ one told the Daily Mail, adding, ‘I want to be anonymous because I might want to go back at some point.’

Despite the seclusion, luxurious amenities and star-studded beaches, there’s one thing money can’t buy you on Fisher Island: peaceful neighbors.