King Richard to lose $1.4M mansion where he trained Serena & Venus next month at auction to cover estranged wife’s debts
SERENA Williams' childhood home will be sold next month to cover her stepmom's spiraling debts after she spent thousands on "fast food" and a failed trucking business, court docs claim.
“King ' fight to keep hold of the rotting mansion where he brought up and looks certain to fail - as a date has been set for its sale to pay off creditors.
To cover the spiraling debts of the legendary tennis coach's estranged wife, Lakeisha, the four-bedroom mansion, worth around $1.4million, will be sold at an online auction at 10am on August 25, court docs reveal.
Most of the proceeds of the sale will go to “hard lender” David Simon, who loaned Serena’s stepmom $255,000 after she allegedly faked Richard's signature to remortgage the property and blew it on fast food and a failed trucking business.
Simon’s attorney’s have now filed a proposed order, which says that Richard, 80, will not be allowed to contest the decision, stating that “Richard Williams has forever waived any and all claims, defenses and appellate rights he had or has relating to directly or indirectly to the above-captioned suit".
Lakeisha, 43, twice filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy but failed to convince the courts that she had the necessary funds to keep up with a repayment plan of around $8,000 a month after falling behind.
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Now her debts have increased even further, as Simon has presented a new legal bill for $62,555, which runs over 36 pages.
In total, Simon's now claiming that he’s owed a grand total of $586,109.
This includes the original loan amount, default interest at 18 percent totaling $182,017, and attorney fees of £103,824, or $125,075.
The legal costs include dozens of phone calls between Lakeisha and Simon's lawyers, which cost up to $400 each.
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Simon’s team charged $800 to “design a strategy for exerting maximum leverage on debtor”.
They also billed $1,550 for a “drone and four-point inspection” after the property had fallen into such disrepair that it is currently uninsurable due to its condition. This includes $45 just to download the inspection photos.
The pictures, filed as exhibits in court, revealed that the grounds and main house are rotting, cars appear to have been abandoned at the property, there’s internal damage from the leaking roof, bathrooms are in a dirty state, and air conditioning units are falling apart.
Simon is arguing that the property has been allowed to fall in disrepair with a rotting roof and is currently uninsurable due to its condition.
He fears that the house could eventually be worthless, and he'll lose any chance of clawing his money back.
The "hard lender" states in court docs that the “debtor is not providing adequate protection of Secured Creditor’s collateral, the House. The House is uninsured, the roof is leaking, and the collateral is in jeopardy of total loss.”
It’s the latest twist in the long-running soap opera between Richard and his estranged spouse.
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At one stage, it looked like the pair had momentarily reconciled when she halted their divorce and asked the courts to dismiss the case, with her lawyer stating that they "have engaged in an active marital life including having regular weekly sexual relations including but not limited to on January 9, 2022.”
But Richard is now likely to lose the property he bought in 1995 for $355,000 with Serena’s mom Oracene before they divorced in 2002.
