Banking Law
Lawyer moved into Wynn Las Vegas, spent over $10M in ‘massive fraud,’ suit alleges
A lender based in the British Virgin Islands has accused a California lawyer of spending and gambling away more than $10 million that was supposed to be used by her lending company to make third-party loans.
The Feb. 11 lawsuit cites information and belief that lawyer Sara Jacqueline King used the money to gamble in Las Vegas and to lead “an extravagant lifestyle.”
Law360 has coverage.
The plaintiff, LDR International Ltd., provided the money to King and her company King Family Lending, thinking that she was in turn using it for loans to professional athletes and others with significant collateral, the suit says. LDR International made 97 loans in all totaling more than $10.2 million that were never repaid, according to the suit.
King Family Lending is a California limited liability company formed in February 2020, and its principal place of business in Orange County, California, according to the suit.
The suit attributes much of the missing money to King’s alleged penchant for gambling. LDR International “is informed and believes that King moved into the Wynn Las Vegas resort and hotel, lived there for six months, and gambled 24/7,” according to the suit, filed in federal court in the Central District of California.
LDR International alleges that King and her company provided phony documents for the purported third-party loans and the collateral supposedly securing those loans. King allegedly cited collateral that included luxury cars, yachts, jewelry, watches, precious metal coins and earnings from professional sports contracts.
The suit says King’s ex-husband, who has fled to Morocco in North Africa, “has substantiated plaintiff’s belief that King engaged in a massive fraud” on LDR International.
King and King Family Lending did not repay LDR International all principal and interest when the loans reached maturity, the suit says. King falsely contended that $6.3 million received in loan repayments had been “redeployed” to fund additional third-party loans, causing LDR International to fund additional loans to King Family Lending, the suit alleges.
King paid LDR International $2 million against interest owed when LDR International demanded payment before filing suit.
King has “recently provided evidence she only has $11.98 to her name,” the suit says.
King Family Lending’s license with the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation became inactive in April 2022, which means that it wasn’t licensed most of the time that LDR International was providing money for the supposed third-party loans that King claimed to be making, the suit says.
The suit alleges breach of contract, fraud and civil theft.
Law360 tried contacting King through an email sent to King Family Lending, but the email bounced back. The ABA Journal had the same result. The State Bar of California does not list contact information for King.
