The Binge Crimes: Lady Mafia - “Anna Delvey of the OC”

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Sara King, a high powered lawyer in Orange County, had scammed investors out of $10 million. Her story splashed the headlines. But to this day, she says she’s no con artist. So what the hell happened? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankopan. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history. This season, we are looking at the life of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. It's fair to say he's a complex and controversial character. Almost 150 years since his birth, how does his legacy hold up today? Follow Legacy now wherever you get your podcasts. Or binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.

Listen to all episodes of Lady Mafia ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. The Binge. I can sell anything. I can sell fire to the devil. When I met Sarah King, she was an enigma to me.

Brash, self-confident, optimistic. But also, in peril. She'd gotten herself into a situation that no reasonable person would be able to fix. When I think about her, I can't help but think of the maze of traffic that is Southern California. Four or five lanes of freeway packed tight, cars weaving in and out of lanes, searching always for the fastest path forward. We've all had our close calls. You catch an open stretch of road and some speed and without even noticing 65 miles per hour becomes 85.

A slower car threatens to block you. And so you hang a left into the fast lane. The road bends, the sun flashes in your windshield and suddenly there are cars ahead of you. You don't know how you missed it, the swell of traffic. But there it is. You know that there's no way you'll be able to slow down fast enough. The lanes next to you are full.

There's nowhere left to go. The split seconds before a crash feel like an eternity. I wanted to know about Sarah King's final moments before her high-stakes joyride exploded everyone's lives. Newport Beach attorney Sarah King is now accused of living the high life and spending more than $10 million of other people's money. November 11th, 2022 is when it all started to fall apart. Nighttime. Sarah returned to her hotel room.

Beautiful. One for more than $6,000 a night. Five rooms, gold, glittery, and high-end. They were like guest rooms at Versailles. I wish I lived there now. It was all marble counters and, you know, those little round lights that you see on those makeup tables all around the mirrors.

It was gorgeous. French doors opened into a perfectly manicured lawn, a private pool, jacuzzi, sweeping views, and round-the-clock service. The real amenity of being in a villa is the service, is the butler's service. I started with champagne for breakfast. You know, the butlers would come in with white gloves

and feed my dog. And the crown jewel of all this opulence? The bathtub. It was like an infinity pool that would pour over and you can't, you don't know where it's going, but it's beautiful. And it was all hers. And she saw herself as a good steward of the kingdom. She was, in her mind, royalty. They loved me so much, I guess I took care of everyone so well that they put a sign on my door that said the king. Sarah King had earned her throne.

She was a successful, high-powered attorney-turned-businesswoman for the 1% of the 1% in Orange County, California. She'd invested in some properties, too. She'd made a mint. And that wasn't even the half of it. Sarah was such an important client at the hotel that her extravagant room and service, it was all free of charge.

On the arm. She was, as they say in the business, a whale. So the king pulled her hair extensions back into a bun, dropped her bath bomb and bubbles into the tub, and stepped inside. She sipped her favorite sparkling rosé and drifted off into the tub and stepped inside. She sipped her favorite sparkling rosé and drifted off into the warm escape. It was like one of those meditation prompts, you know. Imagine a beautiful island or a tranquil lake.

For Sarah, all she needed was right here, hugged by the tall mountains of the desert. Frank Sinatra's luck be a lady, piping through the room was like a distant lullaby. She wouldn't have responded if a fire alarm went off, let alone a knock at the door. She was enjoying the paradise of the moment. But you know what they say, the only paradise is a paradise lost. And Sarah had begun to sense that there might be barbarians at the gate. Lately, she had been worried.

How long could I keep this up? I was literally up to my chin in bubbles. And somebody was banging on her door. I didn't answer because I'm in the bathtub. So I think they must have seen me on camera go in the room. Then they called my bathroom phone. Then I answered the phone and they said, we're right outside your door. Can you open it?

She texted her contact at the hotel. When he didn't respond, she knew. Sarah slinked out of the tub. So I did. I mean, I put a robe on. I went out and they said, Miss King, like you, you have to leave the premises. And I was like, what? The walls were closing in. The hotel was kicking her out. I said, you know what, guys, sit tight. I have a lot to pack. They would pour me champagne while I was packing. I have my toiletry bags.

I have my regular clothes bags. It took me an hour and a half to pack. And they were like, we'll do a discreet car for you. They sent me out the private entrance. They said they'd take me wherever I wanted. Sarah packed her things, stuffed her designer dog under her arm, and was kicked to the curb.

She was in deep shit. The only thing left to do was brace for impact. Move over, Anna Delvey. There's a new scammer making waves all across the internet. This woman is so adept at being a criminal, it's not funny. What she has done is evil. He told me, he goes, I'll go to her house and I'll chop her up in little pieces right in her bed.

From Sony Music Entertainment, this is The Lady Mafia. It's a story about going from lawyer to lawless, living high and blowing millions. I'm Michelle McVeigh. Episode 1, The Anna Delvey of the O.C. I'm Indra Varma, and in the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Daphne Park, the spy who killed a prime minister. As the Belgian Congo gains its independence, Officer Park sets out to build a spy network.

Together, they're about to go to new extremes to keep Congo free of communists. Follow The Spy Who now wherever you listen to podcasts. From the award-winning creators of the hit podcast Father Wants Us Dead comes the stunning new true crime series In the Shadow of Princeton. In 1989, a prominent woman was found stabbed to death in her Princeton home. With no clear motive, it's a chilling mystery that vexed investigators for years. Was the culprit a young outsider the police said was a serial attacker? Or someone in her family?

Or even well-heeled students at the renowned Princeton University? He had a ski mask in his possession and a knife. She was familiar enough with them and trusted them enough that she turned her back on. And that was her mistake. One investigator sees a conspiracy. Is he way off base? Or does privilege help you get away with murder? In the Shadow of Princeton is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Or you can binge it ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Decades as a journalist, I've seen some shit. Murder and mayhem, terrorists and mob bosses, from the streets of L.A. to the back alleys of East Boston, or Eastie, as we call it. TV, books, the mags, the rags, I've done it all. Most scam stories make me tired.

A long reel of misgivings all rolled up into one dark, nasty portrait of a criminal. There was more to Sarah. From the beginning, I could feel it. And I wanted, well, maybe needed, to get inside her head. It was a rainy afternoon in L.A. The streets were slick, and nobody knows how to drive here when it rains.

I went out with caution. Because of the drivers, yes, but also my destination, Sarah's apartment. She didn't know I was coming. The papers had already given her a few monikers. The media vultures were circling. Sarah in her overnight infamy was a juicy scoop. And look, I wasn't any different as far as she was concerned, I'm sure. I hung a left on Sunset and parked in front of a fancy high-rise building in Hollywood. I was in my banged-up undercover crown back. I turned off the engine

and waited. Drank my double espresso. It was a stakeout. Then I saw what I was waiting for. One of Sarah's security guards exited the building and came out to the street. I jumped out. I handed the guard coffee and cookies. I asked if she would pass Sarah a note. The guard took the note, and I waited. Hours later, I got the call. Hi, it's Sarah King. I heard you're looking for me. We made plans to meet at the one hotel. I sat in the lobby of the hotel, on the ground floor. The traffic on Sunset Boulevard, a rumbling white noise.

I was still kind of in disbelief. Why would she talk to me? I knew why I was there. To understand how she did it. To get inside her head. But how does this help her? Sarah walked in wearing Lululemon and sneakers. Casual. Classy. But not the bombshell and head-to-toe Chanel I saw in photos. She looked a little too pretty. Perky boobs, chestnut brown hair, perfectly sprayed tan skin. But today, she was tired. Harried. A weight on her shoulders. She seemed to need my support and was hungry for validation.

In this way that took me aback. We sat in that hotel lobby for four hours straight. She was so open, ready to tell her story, to hold nothing back. Why? She had her reasons. Rehabbing her image for one, a TV deal, maybe. I just wanted to know what the fuck happened. Soon I realized this was going to be harder than it looked. Her story was convoluted, slippery, like oil-slicked tires skidding after the first rain. I was going to need something stiffer than a double espresso

to untangle this mess. Orange County. The sprawling metropolitan area south of Los Angeles that hugs the beach all the way down to San Diego. The cliches about this place are so worn out at this point that the treads are almost completely gone. Glittery. Beachy.

Plastic. Hop boys and beach babes. The Real Housewives, the O.C., selling Sunset. Fake boobs and Italian sports cars. Newport Beach, where Sarah grew up, is practically Mar-a-Lago West. The Orange Curtain, some say. But behind the sprawling beachfront mansions and the caviar and potato chip appetizers,

there's a real darkness. Fast money, loose deals, and hustlers. That's the world that surrounded Sarah King. A world most of us never get to see or hear about. I often say that, like, you know, when you look around that town, the Ferrari is like the Toyota Camry of Newport Beach. These days, that's not where Sarah is. She's living in a studio apartment next to a shopping mall in Irvine.

It's more on the upscale side, the shopping mall, that is. But no Beverly Hills, that's for sure. It's one of those condo worlds, walking distance to a steakhouse, a chain but still nice. Turquoise, black and white color scheme, clean but thin carpet, a nice pool on the ground floor, but you can hear your neighbor snore. Zara lives here now with basically her whole family. All right. I don't want to know. We have my mom, my dad, myself, and my grandmother living in a studio apartment with three dogs. Zara sleeps on the couch.

Her parents sleep on the bed. And when I asked her how all that works, she had a simple answer. Don't fucking take Prozac. That's the only way I would survive this at all. It just keeps me calm. Otherwise, I'd lose my mind. I'd go insane.

Down the road past the golf course is Fashion Island, the iconic outdoor shopping center and hub of activity for Newport Beach. Think upscale shops, department stores, bars, and pricey restaurants. Sarah hung out here. She cut deals, sipped champagne, made things happen. Now, things were different. Instead of shopping in the luxury section at Nordstrom's, she was working in it. I applied for the job. I worked there for like four months in handbags. I sold handbags.

And one day, my manager told me, you have to go to the store manager. She wants to talk to you. I said'm okay. So I go downstairs and she told me, this is what we know about you. And I just said, yeah, that's true. But it's just the media. It's not, the case isn't even resolved yet. I'm actually a great employee because I have to keep accountable. I have to always be here. And I was top sales, so go figure. But they decided to terminate me. When I first met Sarah, her life was very much on the downswing. You know it's hard times when the regional manager at Nordstrom is like, bye bitch, good luck with

the case. Sarah had come to believe that media reports of her had been overblown and unfair. She said she only took that job so that her mom wouldn't have to work anymore at that same Nordstrom's, which she does. My mom had to go back to work. Mind you, she built an empire years ago. This is a family who always lived on a golf course, belonged to country clubs. The condo world is the dumps.

My mom actually started the company that was the fortune for our family, which is amazing. And so I always saw her working hard, dressing beautifully. It was an insurance brokerage company. Insurance brokerage, basically helping big commercial clients buy insurance, comparing prices and policies, all that. This, of course, was way before the internet. She did extraordinarily well, all on her own, and my dad later on became a big support for her in that

and ran the business with her. Hi. Hi there, gorgeous. How are you? It's so nice to see you. Heidi, H-E-I-D-I, King. This is Sarah's mom. Growing up, Sarah saw a mom who was tough as nails, hot and in charge. A successful businesswoman with a husband she was head over I kind of like that. He also loved her success. They've been together for 45 years.

Sarah wanted that and all the things that came with it. Respect, power, love. But of course, she wanted the nice things their success had afforded them. A 3,000-square-foot home in Newport Beach, six-figure sports cars. And she wasn't afraid to play with a little fire to get them. She takes my Mercedes out. Michael, Sarah's dad, is on the couch with us, too. I figured her parents would help me wrap my head around her. And the story that he remembers is the time Sarah stole his car.

Big Ford S500 Mercedes. Never drove before. Ever. And drives on the freeway, goes to the mall. I was 14 years old. I stole my dad's S500, $100,000 car. I've never driven it. I drove it 50 miles down South San Diego.

Picked up all my friends doing it, bought everything at Chanel at Neiman Marcus. Where did you get the money? I went to Neiman Marcus and I lied on the credit card application saying I was 18. I used my credit to get a huge credit limit and I was buying everyone Chanel. I took everyone to lunch. I drove back safely. The car was fine. But I got in some big shit for that. And you had a credit card debt at 14. Yeah, but I think legally 18 is the age that you have to, you can only go into a contract. So I got out of that one, I think.

And when this happened, Heidi and Michael were not even home. They were on vacation. They came home. They were on vacation. They came home. They asked me. And I think my mom cut up literally with scissors, right? Something interesting happened in the middle of our interview. Sarah looks back at her mom while retelling the story. For backup.

All my clothes I ever bought there, and even Marcus. She just took scissors and just cut it all up. The story still didn't make sense to me. How can a freshman go into a store and sign up for a credit card? I asked Sarah this a bunch of times and I never really got a straight answer. Finally, she said, So it was never stolen money. It was a matter of perception. Well, that's not true. And Eastie, we call that a lie. And what's more, a few weeks later, I asked her again.

Then, to my amazement, she recanted the whole thing. She hadn't gotten a credit card at 14. She brought cash. Cash, she now admits, she lifted from her parents' office. And her parents had backed her story up. I was beginning to wonder if anything she told me was true. What was true was that Sarah was willing to bend the rules. If it meant you saw her in the light she wanted to be seen in. If it meant she got what she wanted. Watching my mom do everything and take care of so many things, I also wanted to do the same. Sarah wanted to prove that she could be

a badass businesswoman. She didn't want to be a trophy wife like some of the girls she grew up around. I would say the women here are bred to marry and not to work. So you would find, I would find a lot of girls to be my friends here in Orange County who our friendship never lasted because I worked. And so they wouldn't understand why I couldn't pick up their calls or take them to lunch or whatnot. And it's frustrating.

It was because, you know, I am career focused and all these women just expect men to pay their way. And a lot of them do. A lot of them do. Sarah didn't want to be arm candy. She wanted to be respected for her wit, her ambition, her edge. And she did find someone that respected her for those things. But you know what they say, you can't have everything you want all the time. We'll be right back. Powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash businessplatinum.

Between 1979 and 1989, a dozen people from Dallas, Texas died mysteriously. Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths? Because there's no smoking gun. From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. In the blink of an eye, she thought she had it.

The house, the car, the hubby. Gerard Jamal was his name, a consultant in the environmental industry. Six foot four, 250 pounds of muscle. Pretty, like her. They were a good match. Here was a guy who was invested in her success. Early on, one of their dates turned into a business marketing meeting, which, oddly for her, was a good thing. Gerard pushed her to do more with her life, told her to go to law school. If I go to law school, I'm going to be top of the class. That's just who I am. And you'll have to buy me this car. And he just laughed in my face and he said, you are street smart, not book smart. After the first year of law school, I was top of the top 2%, okay? We called the registrar and they say she had a solid 3.57 GPA, but wasn't

top 2%. When I graduated, I got a G63. Now that's a vehicle that costs more than her tuition. He was very supportive, but he pushed me really hard. He just, he wanted me to be the best, which I appreciated. But I think at the time it was, he was trying to turn me into somebody I wasn't. Sarah got the car and the ring and the man and the million dollar home in Newport Beach. She had settled into married life, but maybe wasn't over the moon in love with draw. What kind of relationship did you have with him? Business. We were excellent business partners. Excellent, actually. So I miss him for that. And Sarah was

working for a law firm. She never really wanted to be a lawyer. It was her husband's idea, but she was just good at it. At least that's what she tells me now. He even encouraged her to run for public office, which she did. Sarah was feeling restless because part of her life just wasn't that interesting. Soon enough, she came to realize that part was Javar. And I noticed that we'd go places and once the drinks were done and once shopping was over, he had nothing to say. He couldn't keep a conversation at all with me. I'd even ask him questions about sports, cars, watches, whatever his interests are. And he could not, he just gave me yes or no answers. They'd go on vacations all over the world, Lebanon, France, you name it. But wherever they went, there they were, with little to say to one another.

On their 10th anniversary of being together, Gerard didn't even make a plan. He threw a bag of Hershey Kisses on the counter. And I just, I realized that we are better off being friends and business partners than we'll ever be romantic. So Sarah may have won Gerard's respect, but she was beginning to think she may not have gotten the love. We'll get back to the love part. But in terms of business, she was bored with being a lawyer. She wanted to find something more exciting to do, to make bank. And Sara and Javar had money to burn. So the couple began investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in different ventures.

Some of their investments were in this mysterious industry, hard money lending. Basically, fast cash at a high interest rate. It was a great business proposition. You would get 4 to 6% interest every month. Zara and Javar sunk $50K into one of these hard money investments. So they were raking in $2,000 to $3,000 a month doing absolutely nothing. And because they were just investors, they didn't even have to deal with the borrowers at all. It's always somebody in distress.

I called up Derek Lewis because he's an expert on these hard money lenders. He's a lawyer from the OC who's a realtor too. And he said that people in search of a hard money loan need cash quick and for whatever reason, can't go to a bank. Bad credit. Typically, it's, I need it fast and I don't want you to ask a lot of questions. Those are the people that go to a bank. Bad credit, typically it's, I need it fast, and I don't want you to ask a lot of questions. Those are the people that go to hard money lenders.

We all know you can't get big money this fast from your local bank. What hard money lenders want to see is an asset, a McMansion, a Bentley, a Rolex. A lender's making a loan against a hard asset. Basically, all the lender cares about is whether there's something there to take from you if you don't repay me. So hard money lenders don't care if you can't even repay the loan because they're going to seize the asset. I guess the difference between Eastie hard money lenders and these OC business types is they take your Lambo and steady your legs.

Either way, it's still a racket. Derek calls them the new mob. These were the people that Dara and Sarah were investing in as a couple. To me, it sounded like shady shit. Invest big piles of money and get an impossible rate of return. I was looking for a way out of law.

Law is so miserable. I hate being a lawyer. It makes no money whatsoever. Okay, well, let me invest because I need to make money. I can't be a lawyer for the rest of my life. And soon they were giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to one lender in particular, getting more and more involved with the guys

who made up this new mob. Meanwhile, Sarah and Gerard were at a crossroads. It all came to a head one night after their anniversary. We were home in bed and watching TV, and I said, I turned off the television and I looked at him and I said, why don't we talk about, let's talk about something. Because I love conversation. It had been years since she felt like they'd had a good conversation about anything. It doesn't have to go anywhere, but I just, I want someone to be able to keep my interest with the conversation. And I brought up sports again and cars and he just yes or no answered me.

And I looked at him. I never forget i was i was brokenhearted but i said you know i think we're better off friends and business partners than in a romantic relationship because i said you can't keep conversation with me and i want that and um he flipped out oh my god he flipped out he just started like pacing around the house and um just pissed off. But I was trying to explain to him, like, look, this is what I think we should do. And we still had companies together.

We had other investments together. And I said, let's just work through those and we'll just go our separate ways romantically. So her first marriage was on the rocks. Once you suggest something like that, you really can't take it back. Seemed like it was only a matter of time before it was over. We reached out to Dror plenty of times for comment. Finally, he responded. I suggest you leave me alone, he wrote in an email.

Then he cc'd his lawyer. He clearly didn't want to be part of Sarah's story for this podcast. So we can't be sure this is exactly how it went down. But soon Sarah would get her chance to try again, to not rely on these midmen and their 9-to-5 salary to make things happen. There was one thing that had made her excited in recent years, made her a ton of money too. Something she intended to double down on

now that she was on her own. Hard money lending. And the guys making money hand over fist doing it. That new mob. She was ready to dive in. To the point that one of those guys would give Sarah a new nickname. Lady Mafia.

There was no turning back. Next time on Lady Mafia, Sarah was willing to do whatever it took to become who she wanted to be. I had to, you know, talk to the girls at the strip club. I was, you know, the pimp of the night, essentially. They knew what they were doing is wrong, and I would go, I would be by their side

to make sure they didn't get caught. I would bully them. I would just straight-up lie and say, I'm go, I would be by their side to make sure they didn't get caught. I would bully them. I would just straight up lie and say, I'm going to, you know, take you to court. I'm calling, you know, the FBI on you. And boom, you got paid.

So it worked out. I love everything Mafia. I love every movie Mafia, everything. I've always tried to be the girl who sits at the guy table. Bowl. But you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts, all ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That's all episodes, all at once. Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page.

Not on Apple? Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. Rubin is our lead producer. Jonathan Hirsch wrote this episode with a little help from me. Catherine St. Louis is our story editor. Shara Morris and Jonathan Hirsch are our executive producers. Sound design and mixing by Scott Somerville. Theme and original music composed by Hansdale Shee. We also use music from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. Our associate producer is Zoe Culkin. Our fact checker is Fendel Fulton. Our production manager is Tamika Balans-Kolasny. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rosick, Jamie Myers, and Allie Kiltz.