The California lawyer who swindled almost $9 million from purchasers to gas her playing habit in Las Vegas and assist her lavish life-style will spend lower than two years behind bars.
Sara Jacqueline King was sentenced to 21 months in federal jail on Monday after she pleaded responsible to wire fraud and cash laundering fees in 2023.
King was additionally ordered to pay $8,785,045 in restitution. She had confronted a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
King’s protection argued for a six-month sentence however was denied by US District Courtroom Choose David Carter.
“This is a lot of money,” Carter mentioned. “There has always been a tremendous sense of betrayal,” Carter mentioned through the Could 5 listening to, in line with the Orange County Register.
King, 41, used her self-named lending enterprise to present short-term, high-interest loans to skilled athletes, celebrities and different high-net-worth people.
She claimed to safe the loans utilizing her purchasers’ high-end belongings, together with designer purses, watches, luxurious vehicles, yachts and earnings from assured sports activities contracts.
Underneath the identify King Household Lending LLC, the Newport Seaside lawyer recruited buyers to fund enterprise loans, utilizing the investments as collateral for a similar loans between January 2022 and January 2023.
She admitted her scheme to the buyers, promising to retain the collateral if a borrower defaulted and promote the collateral to repay the investor in full.
“In reality, during this time period, King never initiated or funded any loan. Instead, she used victims’ funds to gamble at Las Vegas casinos and support her lavish lifestyle,” the US Lawyer’s Workplace in Central California mentioned after submitting fees in 2023.
King was dubbed “Lady Mafia” by Assistant United States Lawyer Jennifer L. Waier.
Throughout her scheme, King misplaced $8.7 million from 5 buyers when she gambled in Las Vegas and blew the remainder of the cash on her “lavish lifestyle.”
King misplaced between $6 million and $7 million on the Wynn Las Vegas resort the place she lived for six months, the Orange County Register reported.
King admitted that she withdrew $132,156 of investor cash from the enterprise account to purchase a Porsche Taycan electrical sports activities automobile.
King was sued by LDR Worldwide Restricted of the British Virgin Islands for falsifying hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of loans.
Within the swimsuit, LDR allegedly gave King 97 loans totaling $10.2 million over 10 months in 2022, and she or he gambled the funds away when she lived “24/7” on the resort, the Los Angeles Occasions reported.
The offshore agency claimed King used a photograph of her with NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen to display her connection to high-profile athletes.
The picture was taken through the soccer stars’ “The Match” on the Wynn Golf Membership in Paradise, Nevada in June 2022.
King claimed in court docket filings that her ex-husband, Kamran Abbas-Vahid, pressured her to gamble the mortgage funds to earn the cash she owed LDR Worldwide.
She additionally mentioned Abbas-Vahid, a French citizen, would accompany her on the on line casino and take the winnings she earned from massive jackpots, in line with the outlet.
King’s lawyer blamed her abuse of Xanax and 10 drinks a day as the explanation she distanced herself from her family and friends, which enabled the playing habit.
“She has been humbled,” protection legal professional Sam Cross mentioned Monday. “She has lost everything. She has to rebuild from nothing at the age of 41. She is really starting from zero.”
