Serena and Venus Williams’ father and legendary tennis coach “King Richard” Williams’ divorce proceedings have now been dismissed in a surprising twist following a bitter years-long battle in court, according to RadarOnline.
The U.S. Sun reports that the case was dismissed by Judge James Martz in Palm Beach County family court on Friday and is officially closed, but it’s unclear what prompted the sudden dismissal.
Richard, 81, had been trying to sever ties from his 45-year-old estranged wife Lakeisha Graham since 2017, alleging that she forged his signature to take ownership of his Palm Beach Gardens mansion and numerous vehicles and stole his social security checks.
She allegedly took out a $279,000″ loan from a “hard money lender” named David Simon and ended up losing it all on a failed trucking business.
She then declared bankruptcy and put the Williams family home up for foreclosure, forcing Richard to sue to get it back.
Richard’s health has been on the decline after suffering two stokes, memory loss, and early onset dementia, so his son Chavoita Lesane has been given power of attorney.
“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 said last year. “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.”
“Lakeisha took the Mercedes, she took the bus, she took money, what else was it? The motorcycle. There are so many things that she stole or forged documents for him. That’s considered elder abuse.”
When contacted by The U.S. Sun for clarification on the divorce case’s dismissal, he replied, “I’m waiting for directions from my Dad on which way he wants to move forward.”
Lakeisha has repeatedly requested to halt the couple’s divorce proceedings, claiming that they “reconciled” their relationship issues and continued to have “weekly sexual relations.”
She also claimed multiple times that Richard was acting under duress for a third party while filing a motion for the divorce to be dismissed.
