SERENA Williams’ stepmom is to be interrogated by lawyers representing the “hard lender” she owes half a million dollars to - as her extraordinary legal battle takes yet another bizarre turn.
Lakeisha Williams is set to lose Serena and sister Venus’ childhood Florida home, which was due to go to auction yesterday with a price tag of $1.42 million, after allegedly forging her husband “King Richard’s” signature on the mortgage deeds to borrow $255,000 from lender David Simon.
It’s unclear whether the auction went ahead, as Simon’s legal team are pressing hard for the lion’s share of the sale to go to him, while Lakeisha is trying to hold off by declaring herself bankrupt and coming up with a five-year payment plan.
This will be the third time Lakeisha has gone for bankruptcy, but has failed to pay a cent back to Simon, and now Judge Luis Delgado, of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, has stated she’s on a “short leash”.
Simon has previously accused her of frittering away her cash on "fast food" and a doomed trucking business.
Simon’s attorney Daniel Gielchinsky wants her third Chapter 13 bankruptcy attempt thrown out for repeatedly delaying the foreclosure, while the four-bedroom home in Palm Beach Gardens is falling apart and has no insurance, which is the only security Simon has on his money.
Gielchinsky has filed a motion to dismiss the case with the judge also growing tired of Lakeisha missing payment deadlines, stating in a transcript: “I want to just point out, Ms Lopez [Lakeisha’s attorney], though, that this is on a very short leash. The debtor must remain current with respect to the payments due under the plan."
The judge added: "Ms Lopez, again, your client keeping abreast of those payments is critical. Frankly, one more payment default and I’m going to be entirely sympathetic to the secured creditor’s [Simon] request that this case be dismissed."
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Simon’s team is due to grill Lakeisha next Monday at 11.30am and have asked for a number of financial documents including “bank statements and records, check registers, check stubs”, credit card statements, state and federal tax returns.
The most interesting turn of events is that Simon is also demanding all financial statements to do with S&D Empire LLC, a company which has so far been kept out of proceedings.
BACKGROUND CHECKS
A background check reveals this is another active trucking company set up by Lakeisha in April 2020, in Locust Grove, Georgia, and the office address is a five-bed, three-bath suburban house bought in 2019 for $225,900, although Lakeisha isn’t the listed owner.
This would suggest that Simon’s team are investigating the possibility that Lakeisha is currently holed up, not in Florida, but Georgia, and making a business there - despite claiming that the property she owns in Palm Beach Gardens is her main and only residence.
The only known trucking firm before this point was the one Lakeisha registered in Florida in 2017, Millie and Mollie Transportation Inc.
Previous court docs reveal that it had only one vehicle - a "Volvo semi-tractor" bought from Simon, which was repossessed by him after an incident on Long Island, NY.
TRUCK DISASTER
He said in his deposition: "The truck was located in New York, Long Island City, having been in an accident and causing $30,000 worth of damage to property.
"The trailer split in half, spilled its cargo all over the street, the clean up and the storage of all of that, cost $30,000. Josh [Simon’s brother] flew to Long Island City to get the truck and drive back here to Florida."
The motion for Lakeisha’s latest bankruptcy bid to be dismissed will be heard on October 25.
FALLEN INTO DISREPAIR
Tennis coaching legend 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.
Photos first shown by The U.S. Sun reveal how shambolic the estate had become.
The roof looked like it had been haphazardly repaired dozens of times while there was an abandoned truck on the property and crumbling outbuildings.
Richard, 80 and 37 years older than his wife, whose life story was told in the movie King Richard starring Will Smith, was previously alleged to be suffering from irreparable "brain damage" and "dementia."
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Court documents from his divorce battle included testimony from his own doctor, claiming he was totally incapacitated.
The U.S. reached out to lawyers for Lakeisha for comment.
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