A former actual property skilled who ran a fraudulent funding fund alongside along with her ex-husband was sentenced to 55 months in jail Friday after a jury convicted her of wire fraud, cash laundering and tax fraud in a scheme that stole greater than $2 million from 22 victims, most of them Seattle residents.
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Tamara King, previously Tamara Waln, is at present dwelling in Ohio however was an actual property agent serving Bellevue and Kirkland, markets in Washington State, when she met and married Paul Waln. He ran an actual property fund known as Halcyon between August 2009 and December 2013. Throughout that point, Waln satisfied victims to take a position $2.25 million in order that he may pool their investments to buy and renovate a West Seattle house constructing, amongst different actual property tasks.
Buyers within the fund had been required to go away their cash within the pool for 10 years, at which level Paul Waln mentioned they’d obtain each their principal and an estimated 20 % annual return on their funding, minus his 1 % administration payment.
After marrying King, the 2 collectively managed the fund, conspiring to misappropriate cash whereas characterizing withdrawals as “loans.” Nonetheless, the cash was not repaid and buyers had been by no means notified concerning the loans, in keeping with a statement from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Western District of Washington.
When the funding funds had been on account of be distributed in 2019, King informed buyers that the enterprise had failed and the entire cash was gone. Attorneys assert that King spent investor funds on an 8.5 carat diamond ring and a $120,000 Tesla, amongst different purchases.
“She blindly drained each final greenback,” Assistant United States Legal professional Cindy Chang informed jurors.
Based on My NorthwestU.S. District Decide Ricardo S. Martinez mentioned that King, who blamed Waln for the misappropriation throughout her trial, refused to take accountability.
“King testified falsely, she intentionally lied on the witness stand … She was the first instigator of this fraud … for essentially the most base motivation of all: pure greed,” Decide Martinez mentioned.
Waln, who now lives in Texas, was sentenced to 33 months in jail in October after pleading responsible to the wire fraud conspiracy in June 2025.
First Assistant U.S. Legal professional Charles Neil Floyd mentioned, “This defendant stole from those that invested not simply their cash, however their desires of a safe retirement. To this present day, she tries guilty others for her conduct that resulted in convictions for 14 federal felonies. This important jail time ought to ship a message to different fraudsters that we’ll examine and maintain defendants accountable.”
