Venus & Serena Williams' Father 'King Richard' Claims Estranged Wife 'Took Everything' From Him Before Bitter Divorce Battle
Richard, 81, had been trying to sever ties from his 45-year-old estranged wife Lakeisha Graham since 2017.
Jan. 25 2023, Published 11:30 a.m. ET
The father of Venus and Serena Williams recently spoke out to accuse his estranged wife of “taking everything” from him prior to their lengthy and bitter divorce battle, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development to come more than five years after Richard, 80, first filed for divorce from his 42-year-old wife Lakeisha in 2017, the man dubbed “King Richard” and his son Chavoita LeSane claim Lakeisha took the 80-year-old’s money and cars before ultimately taking his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home.
"My first concern, as far as Lakeisha and the relationship with my dad, I think began when my dad started having concerns about money disappearing," Chavoita told the Sun on Tuesday. "He would want me to figure out why his checks stopped coming to him. What was going on? And that really became very alarming to me.”
"I started wondering why his social security checks were even of importance, financially, so it was just very odd,” Richard’s 49-year-old son continued. "My dad's very astute when it comes to his finances. So social security checks were not like, so great that my dad needed to rely on to take care of himself, month to month.”
Richard's health has been on the decline after suffering two stokes, memory loss, and early onset dementia.
In his recently released divorce petition, Venus and Serena’s father accused his estranged wife of stealing his social security checks before forging his signature to take over ownership of his numerous vehicles.
"Lakeisha took the Mercedes, she took the bus, she took money, what else was it? The motorcycle," Chavoita alleged. "There are so many things that she stole or forged documents for him. That's considered elder abuse.”
Even more shocking are the allegations Lakeisha forged Richard’s signature and took over ownership of the 80-year-old’s Palm Beach Gardens home for only $10.
Lakeisha then allegedly approached a “hard money lender” named David Simon who loaned the 42-year-old a whopping $279,000.
According to court documents, Lakeisha lost the nearly $300,000 loaned to her by Simon on a failed truck driving business.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Richard sued his estranged wife over his $1 million Florida home in June 2022 after she was forced to declare bankruptcy and put the home up for foreclosure.
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Her initial bankruptcy filing was dismissed one month later, and Lakeisha has been fighting to save the home from bankruptcy ever since.
"She took everything," Richard told the Sun this week. "But I think she's a very good mom. Junior is in school right now, he's doing extraordinarily well."
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