THE loan used for the mystery sale of tennis ace Serena Williams’ childhood home could suggest the house is being flipped to sell again, an expert has said.
The star’s father, known as “King Richard,” and his wife, Lakeisa Williams, fought for years over the house in West Palm Beach, Florida, before it was sold earlier this year.
King Richard no longer lives in the home where the Williams sisters grew up[/caption]
The home has been lying empty for years[/caption]
The couple was in a years-long legal battle after ex-stripper Lakeisha, 45, allegedly tried to steal the home from Richard through forgery.
Amazingly, the legendary tennis coach, 82, and his much younger spouse are still together in another Florida home after she admitted in court documents to faking his signature on the title deeds.
Lakeisha then allegedly transferred the home into her name and took out a risky $279,000 loan with “hard lender” David Simon, which she didn’t pay back.
After reconciling and calling off their divorce earlier this year, they ended up selling the home to a man linked to Lakesiha as they wanted to “keep it in the family.”
In a seven-year court battle to retrieve Simon’s cash, Lakeisha managed to avoid foreclosure on the property at the very last minute – selling it for $1.2 million to an associate of hers.
The new owner, Darrious Christian, who purchased it through a newly set-up business, Hardy Firm LLC, has a debt-strewn past and took out an unusual $600,000 two-year home loan with a mystery individual named Joshua Perdomo, The U.S. Sun revealed.
Christian lived at the same address as Lakeisha and a woman believed to be her aunt.
To add to the confusion, Richard’s son Chavoita Lesane exclusively revealed to The U.S. Sun at the time of the sale that Lakeisha had saved the house from being sold.
He said: “I won’t lie, the house itself, a lot of work needs doing on that place.
“But they’re definitely not selling it. He wants to keep it. I already know that. My dad loves the house. It’s very sentimental to him.”
Chavoita also now insists that nothing is happening with the home when asked by The U.S. Sun about the loan.
Lindsay Fanali, Strategic Real Estate Advisor at Real Estate Bees, has studied the situation and says the type of loan that Christian took out with Perdomo is common for renovations.
He added it is predominantly used for quickly fixing up a home and selling it within “a few months.”
He claims this could pave the way for Richard and Lakeisha to buy it back.
She reportedly made a near $500,000 profit on the sale and would have ample money to put down a deposit.
“It is common for investors to borrow money from an individual instead of a bank,” Fanali told The U.S. Sun
“Although it is a risky option, real estate investors prefer to seek out wealthy individuals to fund their deals and this could be for several reasons, including to fund a certain loan type like the one in this case.
“The loan type is common to fix up a property and make renovations,” Fanali added.
“The loan that the buyer took out for the property was originated by an individual and the loan type was an open-ended mortgage.
“This is a loan that is made to fund any repairs or renovations done by the owner and will be paid back within two years.”
Richard and Lakeisha’s Divorce Timeline
Photo credit: Getty
Richard Williams has been keen to finalize his divorce from Lakeisha Graham for years but their case has dragged out amid a fight over their marital home.
The couple married in 2010 when Lakeisha was 32 and Richard was 69.
Williams is a hands-on father to their young son, Dylan, known as Junior, and has tried to maintain a good relationship with his ex despite the court case.
May 2017
- Richard filed for divorce from Lakeisha after seven years of marriage. He claimed in his initial petition that she had forged his name on a deed transfer for their home and stole his Social Security checks.
March 2020
- Court documents revealed excerpts from Lakeisha’s testimony, in which she admits to forging her ex’s signature and also selling his 1999 Bluebird Wanderlodge Motor Coach, worth $45,000. But she claimed she did so as he had left her and their son to starve, which his legal team denied.
February 2022
- Lakeisha told a judge that her stepdaughter Serena wanted to lock her out of the family home. She claimed a letter from the tennis star’s lawyers “threatened to change the locks” if she did not vacate the property. Her legal team at the time did not respond to requests for comment.
June 2022
- Richard filed a $1 million lawsuit against Lakeisha, despite her claiming in court documents they had reconciled and had been sleeping together again, which he later denied.
July 2022
- Their home was valued at $1.45 million and was due to be auctioned off, but Lakeisha filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and stalled the sale. The bankruptcy case was dismissed on July 5 but she filed to have it reinstated claiming she had found money for a repayment plan. She was in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt after taking out a huge loan from a hard lender and not paying it back.
January 2023
- The U.S. Sun sat down with Richard for a world-exclusive interview in which he accused ex-stripper Lakeisha of “taking everything” and blowing his cash. Asked how he feels about the split, he said, “I just want a divorce. It’s been six years, man. Just a bunch of junk, junk, junk. [I’m] so tired of that junk now.” But he didn’t seem to be getting any closer to finalizing it and his lawsuit was tossed out by a judge.
August 2023
- It was revealed Lakeisha was struggling to keep up with her repayment plan as she battled to keep the house, where she was said to be living despite it needing extensive repair work.
April 2024
- Richard missed a court date and deposition as he suffers from speech problems due to strokes, and didn’t want to be misunderstood. As a result, he had the case dismissed but planned to refile. Lakeisha tried for months to stave off the house being sold at auction by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times, but each attempt failed.
July 2024
- Richard’s son Chavoita confirms he is no longer pursuing a divorce and the pair are “happy” after reconciling. It comes days after she managed to somehow settle her $436,000 debt to save their former marital home from auction.
He claims this indicates an owner is “planning to fix the property up and sell it for a profit within the next few years, most likely in the next few months, and most commonly known as a fix-and-flip.”
“I did not find much information on the individual Joshua Perdomo either,” he explained.
“But he is most likely a friend or previous business partner of the purchaser, maybe another investor or newer investor, that is part of the buyer’s network with enough cash to fund the deal.
“These are likely both newer investors who have seen an opportunity and found a way to get the deal done together.”
The old home Richard once owned is considered empty and in terrible condition, although some of the roof has been fixed, according to his son.
Lakeisha admitted to forging Richard’s signature and had the property transferred to her before taking out a loan, according to court documents.
She could not pay back the loan, which almost saw the house auctioned off in a messy legal battle over the $436,000 she owed to Simon.
The house was saved from foreclosure at the last minute, buying it for $1.2 million just days before a court-ordered auction.
This meant that Lakeisha’s debt was paid off—and she is even believed to have made a nearly $500,000 profit from the sale.
Richard Williams and Lakeisha Graham, pictured in 2010, called off their divorced earlier this year[/caption]
Richard and Lakeisha’s house timeline
The U.S. Sun
Richard Williams lost control of his marital home many years ago and was fighting his estranged wife Lakeisha in court until last month. Remarkably, the couple is now back together and the house has sold. Here’s a full rundown of the house drama.
May 2017
- Richard claimed in his initial divorce petition in 2017 that Lekeisha had forged his name on a deed transfer for their home and stole his Social Security checks.
March 2020
- Court documents revealed excerpts from Lakeisha’s testimony, in which she admits to forging her ex’s signature, but alleged she did so as he had left her and their son to starve, which his legal team denied at the time.
February 2022
- Lakeisha told a judge that her stepdaughter Serena wanted to lock her out of the family home. She claimed a letter from the tennis star’s lawyers “threatened to change the locks” if she did not vacate the property. Her legal team at the time did not respond to requests for comment.
June 2022
- Richard filed a $1 million lawsuit against Lakeisha, despite her claiming in court documents they had reconciled and had been sleeping together again, which he later denied. It was later thrown out.
July 2022
- Their home was valued at $1.45 million and was due to be auctioned off, but Lakeisha filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and stalled the sale. The bankruptcy case was dismissed on July 5 but she filed to have it reinstated claiming she had found money for a repayment plan. She was in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt after taking out a huge loan from a hard lender and failing to pay it back.
August 2023
- It was revealed Lakeisha was struggling to keep up with her repayment plan as she battled to keep the house, where she was said to be living despite it needing extensive repair work.
April 2024
- Lakeisha tried for months to stave off the house being sold at auction by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times, but each attempt failed.
July 2024
- Richard’s son Chavoita confirms he is no longer pursuing a divorce and the pair are “happy” after reconciling. He insisted the house was safe and she had mysteriously managed to pay off her huge debts.
August 2024
- Documents show the house sold for $1.2 million to a mystery company set up in June last year called Hardy Firm LLC. It is thought the owner has links to Lakeisha Williams and they have managed to keep the home in the family.
