Kimora Lee Simmons is refusing to give up her $25 million Beverly Hills mansion bought by estranged husband with stolen money: court case

Entrepreneur and reality TV star Kimora Lee Simmons has spent nearly five years living in a legally disputed $25 million Beverly Hills mansion she bought with money she stole from 1MDB — the world’s biggest multibillion-dollar fraud the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund could post in history.

Simmons has not made mortgage or rent payments during that time, per court documents, and she is reportedly refusing to vacate the home.

She is claiming that her estranged husband, disgraced banker Tim Leisner, sold the property to the Reuben brothers for real estate moguls fraudulently and without authority.

The seven-bedroom estate, which sits on 3.7 acres in the heart of Beverly Hills, can be seen, at least from the outside, in her current reality show, “Kimora: Back in the Fab Lane.”

But it is not clear what will happen to the property after the legal dispute enters its fifth year.

Ongoing civil disputes over possession, title and liability arise from distressed refinancing and sale-leasebacks of luxury properties.

A trial setting conference is scheduled for February 25. (Leisner has yet to comment or actively participate in the case, although he was served in person on August 14 in New York.)

It all comes as Leisner, a German citizen, surrendered to a federal prison in Allentown, Pennsylvania on February 6 – eight years after he pleaded guilty for his role in a $4.5 billion fraud. Simmons has also been in the news promoting her show.

In 2022, Leissner testified under oath that he bought the property at 25 Beverly Park Circle, for $25 million stolen from the Malaysian public.

He testified as the government’s star witness in the criminal trial of his former Goldman Sachs colleague Roger Ng in federal court in Brooklyn. Ng is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for his role. There is no evidence or suggestion that Simmons was involved in 1MDB.

No one disputes that the $25 million Beverly Hills home was purchased in 2017 with stolen 1MDB money.

But the fact that Leisner hasn’t lost the mansion is unusual — and leaves the door open for Malaysia to demand it back from its current owners, as well as any other properties Leisner bought with the stolen money, sources told the Post. And he has very few.

This massive fraud started in 2009 with the establishment of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Within days, $700 million had flown out of it. That year, a Wharton dropout named Zhao Lo, described by U.S. and international investigators and prosecutors as the fraud’s architect, began buying trophy real estate in Manhattan with stolen cash and throwing money around New York City clubs.

The Post was the first publication to mention Lowe by name, pointing to his high-rolling ways, which caught the eye of investigators, sources later told the Post.

Low, who remains at large, maintains his innocence but has left the DOJ with nearly $700 million in assets without pleading guilty. He still faces criminal charges in the Eastern District of New York for violating the Money Laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and in DC for illegal campaign contributions.

But “if Low was the architect of 1MDB, Leissner was its engineer,” another source told the Post.

Ten different countries eventually investigated the six-year fraud that benefited then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Low and others. And Leissner was arrested in June 2018 for his part.

The judge in Ng’s case said, “Leissner admitted to attempting to move and conceal assets, including ownership of his entities such as Keyway. [the holding company for the Beverly Hills mansion] Out of obvious concern the US government would seek to ignore the assets as a return.”

The Beverly Hills home is also unusual because other trophy real estate properties purchased with stolen 1MDB cash have been seized — such as Loco’s New York and LA properties, including a $30.55 million condo in Columbus Circle.

Another penthouse, 212 W. 18th St. Walker Tower, in , was purchased in 2014 for a record $51 million, who was caught in a fraud and is now in prison. The property was seized and sold by the US government in 2020 for $18 million.

Celebrities who gifted expensive properties bought with stolen 1MDB money were asked by the US government to return them in a record civil asset forfeiture case, and they did – mostly.

To date, the government has successfully repatriated approximately $1.4 billion to Malaysia – the largest recovery in DOJ history.

For example, Leonardo DiCaprio returned a combined $12.2 million worth of Picassos and Basquiats and $600,000 worth of Marlon Brando’s Oscars, all of which were gifted to him by Lo with 1MDB money.

But Simmons’ home remains an outlier — and now it’s the subject of a messy court case.

Leissner claimed in court in Ng’s 2022 lawsuit that he sold his assets to Newland, a Hong Kong company.

But sources say Newland could be a front company.

In November 2020, Newland-owned Leissner’s LLC, Keyway Pride, sold the Beverly Hills property to billionaire brothers and real estate moguls David Reuben and Simon Reuben after he defaulted on interest payments on a $12 million mortgage he took out to cover “living expenses,” sources with knowledge of the deal said. The Reuben brothers declined to comment.

As part of the settlement, Leissner and Simmons were to pay $67,000 per month to continue living in the property, according to court documents.

But Simmons is “done [living] There has been no rent paid since November 2020 and till date,” a source with knowledge of the deal told The Post.

While Simmons later challenged the sale and leaseback of the property, in October 2020 she allegedly signed a Kivey resolution authorizing it, though she says her signature was obtained by the lienholder through misrepresentation and breach of trust, according to the defendants’ complaint, filed in January 2021 — two months after the home was sold to Reuben.

Attorneys and representatives for Simmons did not return requests for comment, nor did an attorney for Leissner. In court testimony in the NG case, Leissner said he continued to live in the home after his 2018 arrest — he and Simmons have a 10-year-old son — but did not specify when he left.

The estranged couple no longer live together, sources say, adding that Leissner and Simmons “didn’t pay a dime” to live there.

In January 2021, Simmons filed suit in a Beverly Hills court. The ongoing litigation is between cross-defendants and plaintiffs Keyway Pride, Leissner and Simmons; and cross-plaintiffs and defendants 25 Beverly Park Circle Propco LLC, Cantervale Limited and Chicago Title Company.

In the lawsuit, Simmons claimed that the new owners of the house – the Reuben brothers – illegally bought the Beverly Hills house, because it was purchased without her permission.

None of this drama, however, is part of Simmons’ new reality show, “Kimora: Back in the Fab Lane,” which at least features the exterior of the Beverly Hills home. In a clip promoting E! reality series, she says: “My name is Kimora and I’m a hoarder – but a luxury hoarder,” she says, showing off her collection of 698 luxury handbags.

Simmons once posted on social media about his friendship with former prime minister Najib’s diamond collection, handbag collector wife Rosmah Mansour. Mansor has been compared to Imelda Marcos in the way she accumulates luxury goods bought with stolen money. Simmons’ handbag collection is even larger than Mansour’s – although there is no suggestion that Simmons bought it with stolen money.

That was not the case with Mansoor. In May 2018, police confiscated Najib’s collection of 567 luxury handbags shortly after his coalition lost the general election. Police were seen loading five trucks with orange Hermès boxes. Many of the handbags were eventually returned; Others were auctioned by the government, according to reports.