A husband and ex-wife were indicted this week for allegedly stealing around $2 million from Seattle investors, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman on Thursday.
Fifty-eight-year-old Paul Waln from Dallas, Texas, and 54-year-old Tamara Waln, from Toledo Ohio, were former real estate professionals. They used to live in Bellevue and Kirkland and operated a real estate investment fund.
The indictment says between August 2009 and December 2013, Waln asked for investments in a real estate fund called Halcyon. Waln told people their money would go toward buying and renovating an apartment building in West Seattle and then be used for other real estate projects.
There were 22 people, mostly Seattle residents, who invested in the $2.25 million in the fund.
Waln told investors they were required to leave their money in the investment pool for ten years and after that, Waln would return the investment principal and earnings. He estimated that would amount to a 20% annual return and Waln was “entitled to receive a 1% fee for managing the investment fund.”
The indictment says in 2013, Waln married King, who was also a real estate agent and they jointly managed the investment fund. But between February 2014 and December 2018, they allegedly started using the money for personal expenses.
“The pair secretly transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from the fund to their management company and then transferred the money to King’s personal accounts. In some instances, they wrote secret memos characterizing these transfers as ‘loans,’ but the money was never repaid. Investors were never told about the ‘loans,’” said the news release.
In 2019, Waln and King were required to distribute the money to the investors but by the end of 2018, they allegedly had used it all on themselves.
In December 2018, Waln allegedly sent the investors a letter that said the fund’s general contractor had cancer, which was a lie. Waln said this would cause a two-to-three-year delay before he could give them their money.
In Oct. 2019, King told the investors that “all the money was gone, and the investment had failed.”
“All the remaining investors lost their entire investments,” said the news release.
Waln and King were charged with conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
“Conspiracy is punishable by up to five years in prison. Wire fraud and money laundering are punishable by up to twenty years in prison,” said the news release.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. Waln and King are scheduled to appear on the indictment on Oct. 12.
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