The saga over the Palm Beach Gardens childhood home of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams continues. The home is in foreclosure, a casualty of financial mismanagement and legal troubles stemming from their stepmother, Lakeisha Graham-Williams.
After years of courtroom drama, Lakeisha, 45, has finally lost the family home to meet a hefty debt she has accrued while being married to Richard Williams, father of the tennis stars. Now, the mansion will be place up for a court-ordered auction of the mansion on July 18, according to an exclusive report from The U.S. Sun.
How The Home Was Lost
A final judgment mandates the sale of the property in an online auction and will aim to settle Lakeisha’s $436,113 debt to hard lender David Simon. The four-bedroom estate and expands over 10 acres and valued between $1.4 million and $1.6 million, but it is expected to sell for less at auction. Any proceeds beyond legal fees and Simon’s repayment will go to Lakeisha’s other creditors. She still has an opportunity to forestall the sale by filing for bankruptcy again.
The young wife has been reported to have forged the 82-year-old’s signature on title deeds to transfer the property to her name. Subsequently, she secured a $279,000 loan from Simon, which she squandered on a failed trucking venture. This misstep, compounded by legal expenses and interest, jacked up the debt to $620,000. Despite making partial repayments, Lakeisha defaulted on a $10,000 monthly repayment schedule, prompting Simon to seek judicial intervention last spring.
Judge Mindy Mora’s April 22 ruling to seize the mansion was intended to resolve the over $600,000 debt. In talking about the many missteps that Lakeisha made, Simon told the court that she spent money on “fast food and frivolities” over paying down her enormous debt.
Simon was not deterred and relentless when it came down to pursuing Lakeisha through the courts, going back and forth with his legal team for over seven years. In that time, Lakeisha had some wins, managing to delay the original house sale judgment by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy thrice. However, her last attempt failed in May due to her inability to adhere to the repayment plan.
What made matters worse was that the home was not Lakeisha’s first encounter with forging her husband’s name. She’s also alleged to have faked Richard’s signature to sell his 1999 Bluebird Wanderlodge Motor Coach, worth $45,000, to buy food for herself and their son, Dylan.
“Mainly, I was broke. My husband 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,” she stated.
Richard has denied this claim.
He also has unsuccessfully sought divorce from Lakeisha throughout this time. His son, Chavoita LeSane, has been advocating and speaking for his dad during the most recent disappointment in the divorce matters.
On top of that, the son has had to share with the court that given his father’s dementia and the fact he had three strokes, he incapable of representing himself legally.
LeSane also states that there is cause for a dissolution of the marriage, alleging Lakeisha cashed Richard’s Social Security checks and sold other vehicles, a motorcycle and Mercedes-Benz car, behind his back.
Although his divorce filing was dismissed in June, LeSane plans to refile. He wants his father away from the person at the core of so many of his dad’s financial woes. He also threatens an elder abuse suit against Lakeisha because of all of the stealing and deception.
“There are so many things she stole or forged documents for. That’s considered elder abuse,” LeSane told the Sun. “This whole situation has been frustrating.”
