A Newport Beach attorney who allegedly scammed a lender out of $10.2 million in 2022 to fund a six-month stay at a swanky Las Vegas resort where she frequented casinos around-the-clock now claims her husband pressured her to gamble millions in an effort to win enough to repay the loans.
Sara Jacqueline King, 39, who operates King Family Lending and is a partner of the King Reuben law firm, was sued in February by LDR International Limited, based in the British Virgin Islands, for breach of contract, fraud and theft.
LDR International allegedly extended 97 loans to King Lending for third-party borrowers from January to October 2022. The borrowers’ loans purportedly were secured by collateral that included luxury automobiles, boats, yachts, jewelry, watches, valuable coins, and earnings from guaranteed professional sports contracts.
However, in each instance, King allegedly provided LDR International with phony title documents, appraisals, photographs, and contracts, as well as proof of funding through cashier’s checks with the borrowers’ names redacted.
King spent the majority of loan funds on an extravagant lifestyle at the Wynn Las Vegas resort, where she lived for six months, and gambled “24/7,” according to LDR International. Ronald Richards, an attorney for the firm, estimated that King lost $6 million to $7 million.
She could not be reached for comment.
Husband made her do it
Earlier this week, King filed a counterclaim against her husband, Kamran Abbas-Vahid, a French citizen who lives in Morocco, accusing him of pressuring her to gamble the loan proceeds in an effort to recoup the money owed to LDR International.
“The cross-complaint is a rambling mess that is better for television than a federal district court,” Richards said in an email. “The complaint is meritless as there is no defense to misusing my client’s loan proceeds, lying about the loan’s collateral. The contention her husband forced her to gamble the loan proceeds away…
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