A Newport Beach attorney allegedly scammed a lender out of $10.2 million in 2022 to fund a lavish lifestyle that included jewelry, cars, around-the-clock gambling and a six-month stay at a swanky Las Vegas resort.
LDR International Limited, based in the British Virgin Islands, is suing Sara Jacqueline King, 39, who operates King Family Lending and is a partner of the King Reuben law firm, for breach of contract, fraud and theft.
“King Lending engaged in a massive fraud on the plaintiff,” states the 33-page lawsuit filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court.
King did not respond to a phone call and an email seeking comment. Her law office in Newport Beach purportedly is no longer in operation. She has not been charged with a crime.
According to the complaint, LDR International extended 97 loans to King Lending for third-party borrowers from January to October 2022.
Phony collateral
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, says the suit.
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.
“Because the payee name was redacted, plaintiff could never verify that the funds were actually loaned to the third-party borrower,” the suit states. “In fact … there were no payments made by any third-party borrowers because there were no third-party borrowers or loans.”
LDR International alleges in the suit that 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.”
The complaint also includes text from several emails King purportedly sent to LDR International bragging about her success in making lucrative third-party loans.
“Finally,…
Read the full article here
