Kimora Lee Simmons is fighting to keep the place she calls home.
The seven-bedroom Mediterranean estate in Beverly Park — Los Angeles’ most exclusive enclave, where tech executives and celebrities like Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, and Sly Stallone retreat behind guarded gates — sits on 3.7 acres of prime real estate. The mansion’s estimated value: $25 million. The problem: the money that bought it came from one of the largest financial frauds in modern history.
Why She Won’t Leave
According to the New York Post, Simmons has spent roughly five years living in the property without making a mortgage or rent payment, and court documents reveal she’s refusing to vacate despite claims she owes millions in unpaid rent.
She maintains her estranged husband sold the mansion fraudulently and without proper authority to British billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben — making the sale-leaseback agreement void and her occupation legitimate.
The fashion entrepreneur hasn’t been accused of participating in the underlying fraud. But the property’s 2017 purchase was funded by proceeds from the 1MDB scandal — a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scheme that drained Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund through shell companies and offshore accounts.
Simmons’ estranged husband, Tim Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs banker who arranged billions in bond deals for 1MDB and is also still married to another woman named Judy Chan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and acknowledged in federal testimony that misappropriated 1MDB funds financed the Beverly Park acquisition. He recently began serving a two-year sentence for one of the largest financial frauds in history.
While federal authorities seized yachts, artwork, and jewelry tied to the scheme, this residence avoided government forfeiture. Instead, it became the center of a private legal battle over who owns the property — and whether Simmons can be forced out after years of unpaid obligations totaling millions.
In 2020, facing mounting financial pressure, including missed mortgage payments, Leissner allegedly entered a sale-leaseback arrangement with the Reuben brothers. Court filings describe the structure: the Reubens acquired legal title to the estate while allowing continued occupancy in exchange for monthly rent of $67,000 — over $800,000 annually.
Sale-leaseback transactions are standard tools in luxury real estate when owners need capital while retaining property use. But this arrangement collapsed immediately.
According to court documents filed by the Reuben family, rental payments were never made as required. For roughly five years, Simmons has occupied the property without paying rent— a delinquency approaching $4 million.
Simmons, who has an estimated net worth of $20 million, disputes the transaction’s validity entirely.
In 2021, she filed a lawsuit arguing that Leissner obtained her authorization through misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary trust. Her legal strategy centers on contract enforceability: if the sale-leaseback agreement itself is invalid, the Reuben brothers’ ownership claim collapses, and the rental obligations disappear.
Cantervale Limited, Chicago Title Company, and 25 Beverly Park Circle Propco LLC are defendants and cross-plaintiffs. Opposing them are Tim Leissner, Kimora Lee Simmons, and her holding company, Keyway Pride, as plaintiffs and cross-defendants, according to The Real Deal.
At issue is whether valid consent was given, whether the transaction can withstand judicial scrutiny, and whether Leissner had authority to bind Simmons to the sale. Years later, the case remains active.
Leissner surrendered on Feb. 5. Meanwhile, the Beverly Park litigation continues, with court conferences set to determine whether the matter heads to trial or settlement. The outcome hinges on whether the 2020 sale-leaseback is enforceable and whether the Reuben brothers can claim lawful possession.
The fight over ownership is far from settled, with a trial-setting conference scheduled for Feb. 25.
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