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Jeff Soffer facing $50M suit over fatal helicopter crash

Miami billionaire Jeff Soffer is facing a $50 million bombshell lawsuit by the family of Lance Valdez, who died in last year’s Bahamas helicopter crash that Soffer survived.

Relatives of former New Yorker Valdez, a tax lawyer and father of three, are preparing to sue Soffer in the next few weeks over his close friend’s death in the horrific Thanksgiving crash.

Valdez, 48, was traveling with Soffer — the developer who owns Miami’s Fontainebleau hotel, and is married to supermodel Elle Macpherson — to exclusive Lyford Cay on Nov. 22, 2012, when a gust of wind hit their chopper as it was landing, sending it into a tailspin.

Witnesses said the rotor blades hit the ground, throwing three passengers out. Soffer and his employees Dan and Paula Riordan, along with an unnamed pilot, survived with serious injuries.

Sources say the suit will contain bombshell claims — including questioning whether Soffer was at the controls when the chopper crashed. It is not known if he has a helicopter license.

A source told us, “Lance’s family and friends believe some details of the crash have been covered up. They want answers.” An investigation was launched by the Bahamian authorities, but no conclusive report appears to have ever been filed.

Soffer has never spoken publicly about the chopper tragedy. Friends of his say it spurred him to ­reconcile with Macpherson, and the two were married in secret this summer.

Steven C. Marks, an attorney whose firm Podhurst Orseck specializes in aviation disasters and represented Soffer and the other victims after the crash, told us, “Mr. Soffer was a passenger, just like Mr. Valdez. The pilot signed a statement saying he was in command at the time of the crash. Mr. Soffer is a victim, and was not responsible for the crash. A large settlement was paid to Mr. Valdez’s family after all the statements were taken, so I don’t understand why they would take this position and challenge the facts now.”

Lance, his beautiful wife, Dasha, and their children moved to the Bahamas a few years ago. The Valdez family could not be reached Wednesday