SERENA Williams’ childhood home looks doomed after her stepmom racked up $620,000 in debt on it – now creditors are demanding their money back.
Lakeisha Graham’s desperate attempt to keep hold of the family home looks in vain – as her main creditor is demanding the sale to pay back her colossal debt.
Serena Williams’ stepmom is trying to sell her childhood homeCredit: Getty
Graham (right) who is married to Richard Williams (left) is trying to keep Serena Williams’ childhood homeCredit: Getty
Creditors are demanding that the childhood home of Venus and Serena Williams be soldCredit: SWNS
Creditors are trying to have the home sold to pay off Graham’s debtCredit: SWNS
The property is worth $1.4 million and has been in the Williams family since 1995 when the tennis star’s father Richard purchased it with Serena’s mom Oracene for $355,000.
But former stripper Lakeisha faked Richard’s signature on the title deeds to transfer the four-bedroom mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, into her name – and then took out a $279,000 loan from “hard lender” David Simon, which she blew on a failed trucking business.
The debt at one point reached $620,000, including legal fees and interest, but Lakeisha has since then repaid some of it – and it’s now thought to be around half a million.
She’s tried three times to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, and the last bid was thrown out when she failed to keep up with a repayment plan.
Now Simon has sent a notice to the judge involved in his lawsuit, which states that the latest bankruptcy has failed.
This means that Lakeisha will lose court protection – which stopped the property from being foreclosed – with Simon gaining most of the monies from the sale and the rest being split by more than 20 other creditors.
But there is one sliver of hope – there’s currently nothing to stop her from immediately filing for Chapter 13 again, but this would add on more in legal and court costs.
She’d also have to prove that her situation has changed and can afford to keep up with a repayment plan.
If Lakeisha refiles, her automatic stay – protection from creditors – will only last 30 days.
Yet increasing costs and more legal wrangling don’t seem to fear the 45-year-old, who is almost half the age of legendary tennis coach Richard, 81.
“King” Richard, who’s suffered two strokes and dementia, filed for divorce after allegedly realizing that his house had been “stolen” – although that was recently dismissed from court, as speculation mounts whether the pair are back together.
In Simon’s deposition, he revealed Lakeisha approached him initially for a loan after seeing a “for sale” sign on his $79,000 Volvo semi truck tractor.
Simon testified he would only sell the truck to Lakeisha if he had property as collateral, which was in Richard’s name, so Lakeisha allegedly transferred the deeds into her name by faking her husband’s signature. She then borrowed further amounts.
But the truck was repossessed by Simon in June 2018 after it split in half in Long Island City, 1,200 miles from their home, causing $30,000 damage.
The case, which has been ongoing since April 2017, revealed jaw-dropping allegations about Lakeisha and Richard’s tumultuous marriage.
Court docs from Lakeisha’s deposition showed that she’d forged Richard’s signature once before, so that she could sell his 1999 Bluebird Wanderlodge Motor Coach, worth $45,000, to buy food for herself and their son Dylan, now 8.
“Mainly, I was broke by my husband [who] did not help me. It was my son and I not getting any money, so I had to sell it so I can eat and my son can eat… we didn’t have anything,” she said.
She claimed to have no inkling that Richard wanted a divorce, saying they were living together as a married couple until May 2017 when he suddenly served her “dissolution papers.”
She reveals that on the day he filed the divorce petition, he even gave her a kiss and prayed with her in the morning.
“He just came and gave me a kiss actually that morning, the morning of — and he will always, would share with me to pray, you know, to always pray for our family and then he left with Chavoita,” she said in her deposition.
In his divorce petition, Richard accused Lakeisha of stealing his social security checks and forging his signature to take ownership of numerous vehicles.
Richard’s son Chavoita Lesane has threatened for the last year to file an elder abuse suit, which is yet to materialize.
He told The U.S. Sun in an exclusive interview, “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.
“We’re just putting all of it together, it’s a lot. This whole situation has been frustrating.”
Graham had her truck repossessed after her trucking company failedCredit: SWNS
Serena Williams’ stepmom is attempting to prove she can afford to keep the childhood homeCredit: Getty
Lakeisha allegedly forged her husband’s signature to obtain the homeCredit: Getty