SERENA Williams’ childhood home has been saved from being sold at auction to pay off her stepmom’s almost half a million debt.
The auction was halted just 24 hours before bidding began, as the colossal amount Lakeisha Williams owed to creditors had all been mysteriously paid off.
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The house in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, previously belonged to the legendary tennis coach, known as ‘King Richard.’
But his former stripper wife faked his signature on the title deeds and took out a $279,000 loan with “hard lender” David Simon.
Her debt rose to nearly $620,000 at one stage, including legal fees and interest, after Simon sued her after she failed to pay it back.
According to court documents, the amount then finished at $436,113, with the proceeds from the house sale going to pay him and her other 20-plus creditors off.
It is not known how Lakeisha has managed to pay off the massive debt in the past week, but The U.S. Sun has reached out to Richard’s family and her lawyer for comment.
According to Palm Beach County records, the property also has a new owner.
A new warranty deed was filed on Monday stating that the four-bed mansion has been transferred to a company called Hardy Firm LLC.
The LLC is registered with an agent and CEO named Darrious Christian, based in Fort Lauderdale, who has connections with Lakeisha’s so-called family.
He’s been a registered voter and also had a business address at a Margate home once owned by Lakeisha’s auntie Betty Downing – Lakeisha states to the courts she’s her auntie, but there’s no evidence of this.
Lakeisha’s been working with Downing for over a decade on numerous failed businesses and disastrous property ventures resulting in the foreclosure of another property not just Richard’s.
‘BACK TOGETHER’
Downing was charged on two counts of first-degree grand theft and exploiting an elderly person for over $100,000, which carries up to a thirty-year prison sentence in Florida, but escaped last year with 120 months probation and paying the victim $135k damages.
Downing, 61, was previously said to have been living with Lakeisha at Richard’s former home for some time.
Richard’s son Chavoita LeSane said last year, “As far as I know, Lakeisha is living in what we call the ‘dog house’ next to the main house now. My dad converted a clubhouse into a small studio and I have been told she’s living there with Betty. They are just playing games.”
However, Lakeisha is now said to be back living with Richard at his new home, which is in Serena’s name, as her lawyer claims they are back in a “romantic and sexual relationship”.
In a huge twist in the legal saga, Richard had his divorce dismissed after seven years of going through the courts.
Lakeisha’s attorney Sara Lawrence said, “Richard Dove Williams and his wife Lakeisha Williams have a son and are raising him together.
“They are a family. Lakeisha works and Richard often takes care of their son.
“Lakeshia and Richard Williams have a romantic and sexual relationship. With their son, they are a family. They live together. They go on family trips to Disney together.”
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.
Lakeisha previously shared a photograph on her Instagram of the family together in March last year, showing Richard driving and their son Dyaln, 12, in the back seat.
She captioned the happy snap, “The Williams,” with a heart face emoji, showing her beaming.
Lakeisha is 45 – only three years older than Serena – while Richard is now 82, had two strokes, the onset of dementia, and memory loss.
They allegedly met at a tennis tournament while she was working as a dancer called Angel.
It appears Lakeisha is having the last laugh and Richard is sticking by her, despite their rollercoaster court battle.
A furious Chavoita previously threatened an elder abuse lawsuit but told The U.S. Sun his dad didn’t want to go through with it and he abided by his wishes.
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He told The U.S. Sun: “I can’t remember how long it was into the relationship as far as my dad starting to have financial headaches, like, ‘What’s going on with my social security checks?’
“Lakeisha took the Mercedes, she took the bus, she took money, what else was it? The motorcycle.
“There are so many things that she stole or forged documents for him. That’s considered elder abuse.”
She previously claimed she only stole from Richard as he left her and their son starving and she had no choice, which his team denied at the time.
Now it seems things have turned a corner within the family and Lakeisha is being welcomed back into the fold.
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