An attorney from California was found guilty of stealing $8.7 million from her clients in order to support her gambling habit in Las Vegas. She was sentenced to two years in federal prison for her crime.
After pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering, Sara Jacqueline King was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Monday, May 5. This information was published by the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Mail. Restitution in the amount of $8,785,045 was also ordered to be paid by her.
According to the Los Angeles Times and ABC 7 Los Angeles, the Newport Beach attorney, who is 41 years old, solicited investors under the name of her company, King Family Lending LLC, in order to facilitate “short-term loans to celebrities, professional athletes, and other high-net-worth individuals secured by the borrower’s own assets” in a fraudulent scheme that took place between January 2022 and January 2023.
In 2023, immediately after the filing of charges against King, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that she “never initiated or funded any loan.” Instead, she utilized the money that was given to her by victims to spend at casinos in Las Vegas and to finance her extravagant lifestyle, as reported by the New York Post.
According to a second civil case filed by LDR International Limited of the British Virgin Islands, King was accused of taking out 97 loans from the firm totaling $10.2 million between the months of January and October of 2022.
According to the plaintiff, she “spent the majority of the funds loaned by plaintiff to King Lending to gamble in Las Vegas, fund an extravagant lifestyle, and for other personal uses by King.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the complaint alleged that the plaintiff is aware of and thinks that King moved into the Wynn Las Vegas resort and hotel, resided there for a period of six months, and gambled around the clock.
According to the Los Angeles Times, King’s attorney Sam Cross said that she was addicted to Xanax and that she “consumed ten drinks a day” while gambling in Las Vegas “to maintain her lifestyle.” This information comes from Cross, who claims that she has subsequently checked herself into a recovery center.
According to the publication, King is scheduled to go to jail on July 14, and she will be required to meet the requirements of supervised release for a period of three years after her release from prison.
Yumiko Sturdivant, who had previously been King’s customer, said while speaking to ABC 7 that “Let me tell you that she did not only steal from a billionaire.” I was one of the regular folks who she stole from. The actions that she has taken are despicable, and there is no way that she can escape this situation.
