Kimora Lee Simmons Still Living in Disputed Beverly Hills Home

An ongoing lawsuit and a federal prison sentence for her estranged husband isn’t keeping Kimora Lee Simmons out of the fab lane.

The “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane” star has been living in a $25 million Beverly Hills mansion that former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner, from whom Simmons separated in 2022, reportedly purchased using money siphoned from Malaysia’s 1MDB fund, the New York Post reported.

Leissner bought the seven-bedroom estate at 25 Beverly Park Circle in 2017 using money that he later admitted was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the sovereign wealth vehicle that became the center of investigations across 10 countries.

Within days of 1MDB’s creation in 2009, $700 million had been taken out of the sovereign wealth fund, according to the Post. An investor named Jho Low began buying trophy real estate in Manhattan with the money, though he later surrendered approximately $700 million in assets to the Department of Justice without admitting guilt. “If Low was 1MDB’s architect, Leissner was its engineer,” one source told the Post.

Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 and reported to federal prison this month. He admitted in 2022 that the Beverly Hills home was purchased using $25 million in money stolen from the Malaysian people. Simmons is not alleged to be involved in the fraud.

In November 2020, an LLC linked to Leissner sold the property in a distressed refinancing and sale-leaseback deal to entities affiliated with British real estate billionaires David and Simon Reuben. The mansion was never seized, however. The deal required Leissner and Simmons to pay $67,000 per month to remain in the home, but court filings allege no rent has been paid.

Simmons filed a lawsuit in Beverly Hills court in January 2021 claiming the sale was unauthorized and that her signature on documents approving the handover to the Reuben brothers was procured through “misrepresentation and abuse of trust.” Cantervale Limited, Chicago Title Company and 25 Beverly Park Circle Propco LLC are listed as cross-plaintiffs and defendants in the case, while Leissner, Simmons and Keyway Pride — the holding company for the Beverly Hills house — are cross-defendants and plaintiffs.

A trial-setting conference in the ongoing case is scheduled for Feb. 25.

— Chris Malone Méndez