Former Real Estate Broker Convicted in $2 Million Investment Fraud

Lavish Spending Fueled by Stolen Investor Funds

Tamara King, a 56-year-old former real estate broker, was convicted on Friday following an eight-day trial on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and three counts of filing false tax returns. The prosecution revealed that King used stolen investor money to purchase an 8.5-carat diamond ring worth $50,000 and a Tesla costing more than $120,000. Beyond the investment fraud, King failed to report over $1.6 million in income to the IRS, claiming only $188,116 over three years while actually receiving approximately $1.85 million.

King's co-defendant and ex-husband Paul Waln pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in June 2025 and received a 33-month prison sentence in October. King faces sentencing on March 20, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez.

The Halcyon Fund Deception

Between August 2009 and December 2013, Waln solicited investments for a real estate fund called Halcyon, convincing 22 victims to invest $2.25 million, most of whom were Seattle residents. Waln promised investors their money would be pooled to purchase and renovate an apartment building in West Seattle, with investors required to leave their money in the fund for 10 years and receiving an estimated 20% annual return.

In 2013, Waln married King, who was also a real estate agent, and the duo began jointly managing the investment fund. Between February 2014 and December 2018, they conspired to misappropriate money from the fund to pay personal expenses, secretly transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time to their management company and then to King's personal accounts. They wrote secret memos characterizing these transfers as "loans," but the money was never repaid and investors were never told about these arrangements.

Fabricated Cancer Diagnosis Cover-Up

By the end of 2018, the couple had misappropriated all the money, despite being required to distribute the investment funds to investors in 2019. In December 2018, Waln sent investors a letter falsely claiming that the fund's general contractor had been diagnosed with cancer. Waln told investors this would result in a two-to-three-year delay before he could return their money, but the contractor in question never had a cancer diagnosis.

In October 2019, King finally told investors the money was gone and the investment had failed. At trial, King attempted to blame Waln for the misappropriation, claiming he told her the "loans" were allowed, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Wilkinson told jurors the couple acted as a team, with Waln bringing money in the front door while King stole it out the back.

Broader Implications for Real Estate Investment

This case highlights the vulnerability of private real estate investment funds to insider fraud. The Halcyon scheme demonstrates how professional credentials and promises of high returns can mask systematic theft from trusting investors. The couple's use of fabricated medical emergencies and complex financial structures shows the sophisticated methods fraudsters employ to delay detection.

For potential real estate investors, this conviction underscores the importance of independent oversight and transparent reporting in private investment funds. The case also reveals how tax evasion often accompanies investment fraud, as King's failure to report stolen income compounded her criminal exposure. Federal prosecutors continue pursuing these cases aggressively, with wire fraud and money laundering charges carrying potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison.