Venus and Serena Williams to lose childhood home as stepmom Lakeisha blows $500K loan on FAST FOOD
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA: After defaulting on a $500,000 house loan, Serena Williams' stepmother is in danger of losing their childhood home unless a bankruptcy court approves of her repayment strategy. In an effort to keep the four-bedroom house in Palm Beach Gardens, which has been in the Williams family since 1995, Lakeisha Williams has filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times.
The former spouse of 80-year-old "King Richard" Williams' reportedly forged his signature to transfer the house's titles into her name and obtained a $255,000 loan, which she spent on a failing trucking company. David Simon, the lender, accused her of wasting the remainder on "fast food and frivolities" as reported by The Sun.
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For the past five years, David has been fighting Lakeisha in court to get his money back, which is now worth $513,213 (with interest), and to get her third bankruptcy case dismissed. As of last month, Lakeisha seemed to be giving up on maintaining the $736,000 home after appointing the expert foreclosure firm Get Liquid Funding LLC to manage the legal proceedings. Judge Mindy Mora of the Southern District of Florida Bankruptcy Court will consider the case on November 3 following the filing of a petition by bankruptcy trustee Robin Weiner for the case to be dismissed, which will result in the immediate sale of the home.
Lakeisha's chances of preventing the bankruptcy from being thrown out are slim unless she can persuade the judge that her repayment plan, which she has so far ignored, would actually work. Lakeisha is supposed to pay Simon back over the course of five years, making installments of $8,277 for the first three months, $11,092 for the following thirteen months, and $12,709 for the remaining 44 months.
However, Simon noted in court documents that none of her payment plans have come to fruition and that she has wasted all her money on "fast food and frivolities." He claims that she has reopened her trucking company, but it will never be enough to pay off the debt since she spends every penny. The court documents say, “No matter how much money her trucking business generates every month, she spends all of her income every month without paying a dollar to the secured creditor [i.e., Simon].”
The once-smart house is now in bad shape, with issues including a severely leaky roof, that Simon believes is no longer insurable. The property is valued at more than $1.4 million on realtor websites, but owing to its dilapidated state, the true worth is around half that amount.