Will a Legal Saga Over a $70 Million Malibu Mansion Derail the Star of ‘Buying Beverly Hills’?

Los Angeles Times (December 12, 2022) For as long as he could remember, there was always that mansion on the bluff, its white stucco walls and clay tile roof visible above the ridgeline, peering down on Malibu’s famous coast. From his perspective on Pacific Coast Highway, where his family-owned commercial property, Sam Hakim was curious. What was it like up there? And who would own a house like that? When a friend invited him along to a party thrown by the owner, a wealthy African government official and exotic car buff, he was blown away: 16.5 acres, a three-hole golf course and views from mountains to sea. Several years later, in 2015, Hakim heard the estate was on the market. His immediate response: “We’ve got to get this house,” he recalled telling his broker.

He bid $32 million for the Spanish hacienda-style home in the Serra Retreat neighborhood, upped his offer and — he says — let it be known he would pay even more. When he couldn’t work out a deal, he shrugged it off as just another lost opportunity. That was, until Hakim came to suspect he had been defrauded, according to a lawsuit he later filed.

Seven years after the bidding, he’s enmeshed in litigation over the sale, which was handled by celebrity broker Mauricio Umansky, spouse of Kyle Richards, the veteran “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’’ cast member, and now star of his own reality series on Netflix. The resulting saga of power, corruption and allegations of deception involving multiple lawsuits and parties has played out from the courts of Los Angeles and the halls of Congress to as far away as the shores of Central Africa.

“We have litigated many broker misconduct cases involving ultra-luxury residential properties in Southern California but have never encountered a case as unique and egregious as this one involving Mr. Umansky,” Jennifer Shakouri and Alan Hearty, attorneys at Allen Matkins who represent Hakim, said in a statement to The Times. “As a result of his misconduct, the people of Equatorial Guinea were deprived of substantial funds that should have gone to them.” Read More (subscription required)