Michelle McPhee (3:21)

November 11, 2022 is when it all started to fall apart. Nighttime, Sarah returned to her hotel room. Beautiful. Went for more than 6,000 a night. Five rooms. Cold, glittery and high end. They were like guest rooms at Versailles.

Sara King (3:43)

I wish I lived there now. There 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.

Michelle McPhee (3:53)

French doors opened into a perfectly manicured lawn, a private pool, jacuzzi, sweeping views, and round the clock service.

Sara King (4:03)

The real amenity of being in a villa is the service is the butler service. I started with champagne for breakfast. You know, the butlers would come in with white gloves and feed my dog.

Michelle McPhee (4:13)

And the crown jewel of this opulence, the bathtub.

Sara King (4:17)

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.

Michelle McPhee (4:24)

And it was all hers. And she saw herself as a good steward of the kingdom. She was, in her mind, royalty.

Sara King (4:33)

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.

Michelle McPhee (4:39)

Sarah King had earned her throne. She was a successful, high powered attorney turned businesswoman for the 1% of, 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. Sara 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 bunch, dropped her bath bomb and bubbles into the tub and stepped inside. She sipped her favorite sparkling 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 Sara, all she needed was right here, hugged by the tall mountains of the desert. Frank Sinatra's luck, Veile 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?

Sara King (6:10)

I was literally up to my chin.

Michelle McPhee (6:12)

In bubbles and somebody was banging on her door.

Sara King (6:18)

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?

Michelle McPhee (6:32)

She texted her contact at the hotel. When he didn't respond, she knew Sahra slinked out of the tub.

Sara King (6:41)

So I did. I mean, I put a robe on. I went out and they said, Ms. King, like you, you have to leave the premises. And I was like, what?

Michelle McPhee (6:52)

The walls were closing in. The hotel was kicking her out.

Sara King (6:56)

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. B. 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.

Michelle McPhee (7:15)

Sara 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.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (7:34)

Move over, Anna Delvey. There's a new scammer making waves all across the Internet.

Michelle McPhee (7:39)

This woman is so adept at being a criminal, it's not funny.

Sara King (7:43)

What she has done is evil.

Michelle McPhee (7:46)

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 Lady Mafia. It's a story about going from lawyer to lawless, living high and blowing millions. I'm Michelle McVay. Episode 1 the Anna Delvey of the O.C.

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Michelle McPhee (9:15)

Decades as a journalist, I've seen some shit. Murder and mayhem. Terrorists and mob bosses. From the streets of LA 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 Sara from the beginning. I could feel it. And I wanted, well, maybe needed to get inside her head. It was a rainy afternoon in la. 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 Vic. 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 Sara'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.

Sara King (10:55)

Hi, it's Sara King. I heard you're looking for me.

Michelle McPhee (11:00)

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 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 spray 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 a 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 hot boys and beach babes. The real housewives. The OC Selling sunset fake boobs and Italian sports cars. Newport beach, where Sara 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 Sara King. A world most of us never get to see or hear about.

Derek Lewis (13:25)

I often say that, like, you know, when you look around that town, the Ferrari is like the Toyota Camry of.

Michelle McPhee (13:31)

Newport beach these days. That's not where Sara 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 neighbors snore. Sara lives here now with basically her whole family. All right, I didn't want to know.

Sara King (14:07)

We have my mom, my dad, myself and my grandmother living in a studio apartment with three dogs.

Michelle McPhee (14:13)

Sara sleeps on the couch, her parents sleep on the bed. And when I asked her how all that works, she had a simple answer.

Sara King (14:21)

Don't fucking take Prozac. That's the only way I would survive this at all. It just keeps me calm. Otherwise I would lose. I'd lose my mind. I'd go inside. Same.

Michelle McPhee (14:31)

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. Sara 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.

Sara King (14:55)

I applied for the job. I worked there for like four months. In handbags. I sold handbags. And they. One day I got my manager Told me, you have to go to the store manager. She wants to talk to you.

Michelle McPhee (15:07)

Okay.

Sara King (15:10)

So I go downstairs and she told me, this is what we know about you. This is. And I just said, yeah, that's true, but it's just the media. It's not. The case isn't even resolved yet. You know, I'm actually a great employee because I have to keep accountable. I have to always be here, you know, And I was top sales, so go figure. But they decided to terminate me.

Michelle McPhee (15:34)

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 have 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.

Sara King (15:58)

My mom had to go back to work, mind you, she built an empire years ago.

Michelle McPhee (16:05)

This is a family who always lived on a golf course, belonged to country clubs. The condo world is the dumps.

Sara King (16:12)

My mom actually started the company that was the fortune for our family. Um, which is amazing. And so I always saw her working hard, dressing beautifully. It was an insurance brokerage company.

Michelle McPhee (16:23)

Insurance brokerage, basically helping big commercial clients buy insurance, comparing prices and policies, all that. This of course, was way before the Internet.

Sara King (16:33)

But 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?

Michelle McPhee (16:44)

It's so nice to see you.

Sara King (16:46)

Heidi. H E I D I King.

Michelle McPhee (16:50)

This is Sara'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 heels for.

Sara King (17:01)

Sexy hairy chest.

Michelle McPhee (17:07)

I kind of like that. He also loved her success. They've been together for 45 years. Sara 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, Sara's dad is on the couch with us too. I figured her parents would help me wrap my head around her. In the story that he remembers is the time Sara stole his car. Big 4 door S500 Mercedes. Never drove before, ever. And drives on the freeway, goes to the mall.

Sara King (18:00)

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.

Michelle McPhee (18:14)

Where did you get the money?

Sara King (18:15)

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.

Michelle McPhee (18:33)

And you had a credit card debt at 14?

Sara King (18:36)

Yeah, but I think legally 18 is the. Is the age that you have to. You can only go into a contract. So I got out of that one, I think.

Michelle McPhee (18:44)

And when this happened, Heidi and Michael were not even home. They were on vacation.

Sara King (18:48)

They came home, they asked me, and I think my mom cut up, literally with scissors, right?

Michelle McPhee (18:56)

Something interesting happened in the middle of our interview. Sara looks back at her mom while retelling the story for backup.

Sara King (19:03)

All my clothes I ever bought there and Neiman Marcus. She just took scissors and just cut it all up.

Michelle McPhee (19:09)

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.

Sara King (19:21)

Finally she said, so it was never stolen money. It was a matter of perception. Well, that's not true.

Michelle McPhee (19:32)

An east, 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 Sara 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.

Sara King (20:08)

Watching my mom do everything and take care of so many things, I also wanted to do the same.

Michelle McPhee (20:15)

Sara 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.

Sara King (20:23)

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.

Michelle McPhee (20:49)

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.

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Michelle McPhee (22:02)

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.

Sara King (22:37)

If I go to law school, I'm going to be top of the class. That's just who I am. And you 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.

Michelle McPhee (22:53)

We called the registrar and they say she had a solid 3.57 GPA but wasn't top 2%.

Sara King (23:01)

When I graduated, I got a G63.

Michelle McPhee (23:03)

Now that's a vehicle that costs more than her tuition.

Sara King (23:07)

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.

Michelle McPhee (23:20)

Sara got the car in 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.

Sara King (23:36)

Business. We were excellent business partners. Excellent, actually. So I miss him for that.

Michelle McPhee (23:42)

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 Gerard.

Sara King (24:07)

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.

Michelle McPhee (24:27)

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.

Sara King (24:42)

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.

Michelle McPhee (24:52)

So Sara 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 Gerard 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. Sara and Gerard sunk 50k into one of these hard money investments. So they were raking in 2 to 3,000amonth doing absolutely nothing. And because they were just investors, they didn't even have to deal with the borrowers at all.

Derek Lewis (25:48)

It's always somebody in distress.

Michelle McPhee (25:50)

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.

Derek Lewis (26:06)

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.

Michelle McPhee (26:15)

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.

Derek Lewis (26:24)

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.

Michelle McPhee (26:34)

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 East D hard money lenders and these OC business types is they take your lambo instead of your legs. Either way, it's still a racket. Derek calls them the new mob. These were the people that Gerar and Sara 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.

Sara King (27:07)

I was looking for a way out of law. Law is so miserable. I hate being a lawyer and 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.

Michelle McPhee (27:18)

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, Sara and Gerar were at a crossroads. It all came to a head one night after their anniversary.

Sara King (27:40)

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.

Michelle McPhee (27:53)

It had been years since she felt like they'd had a good conversation about anything.

Sara King (27:58)

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 in 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 a conversation with me, and I want that. And he flipped out. Oh, we got. He flipped out. He just started, like, pacing around the house and 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.

Michelle McPhee (28:41)

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 Gerar 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 Sara's story for this podcast, so we can't be sure this is exactly how it went down. But soon Sara would get her chance to try again. To not rely on these mid men 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. Sara was willing to do whatever it took to become who she wanted to be.

Sara King (29:57)

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 going to take you to court. I'm calling the FBI on you. And boom, you got paid. So it worked out. I love everything Mafia. I love every movie Mafia everything. I always try to be the girl who says it's the guide TABLE.

Michelle McPhee (30:33)

Unlock all episodes of Lady Mafia ad free right now by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, 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. Lady Mafia is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment. It was hosted and reported by me, Michelle McPhee. Odelia 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. She we also use music from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. Our associate producer is Zoe Kulkin Our fact checker is Fendal Fulton. Our production manager is Tameka Valance Kolasny. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rossick, Jamie Myers and Allie Kiltz.

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