In a new interview with The Sun, former tennis coach Richard Williams is accusing his estranged wife, Lakeisha Graham, of wiping him out amidst their contentious divorce. Williams is the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams.
Williams is accusing Graham of forging his signature for the purpose of transferring his home into her name, according to court documents obtained by, The Sun, which reports that a bankruptcy court dismissed Williams’ $1 million lawsuit against his wife last month. The 80-year-old former tennis coach married Graham in 2010, and they share custody of their 10-year-old son, Dylan.
The former tennis coach claimed that his estranged wife tried to take his house in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for the sum of $10. Williams is reportedly suffering from memory loss following a series of strokes and is being cared for by his adult son, Chavoita LeSane.
LeSane, who was interviewed alongside Williams, said his father was concerned about money disappearing, and he suspected his wife.
“My first concern, as far as Lakeisha and the relationship with my dad, I think began when my dad started having concerns about money disappearing,” he said. “He would want me to figure out why his [social security] checks stopped coming to him. What was going on? And that really became very alarming to me. I started wondering why his Social Security checks were even of importance, financially, so it was just very odd.”
LeSane also said that his father was usually “very astute” with his finances and it was unusual for him to be concerned with his Social Security checks for support.
“My dad’s very astute when it comes to his finances. So Social Security checks were not like, so great that my dad needed to rely on [them] to take care of himself, month to month,” he added. LeSane realized he needed to pay more attention to what was happening in his father’s household after speaking with Williams about money and learning he had concerns.
“I can’t remember how long it was into the relationship as far as my dad starting to have financial headaches,” said LeSane. “Like, ‘What’s going on with my Social Security checks?’ But I just know that there were issues where he was not happy with the way things were being handled with his finances.”
The feud with his estranged wife first began when Williams filed for a divorce in 2017 after he accused Graham — who is 38 years younger than Williams — of stealing his Social Security checks and forging his signature. The former coach also reportedly tried to get a violent protective order against Graham after she allegedly stalked him and LeSane.
Williams and LeSane claim that Graham also took out a $279,000 mortgage after forging his signature. LeSane called what Graham is doing elder abuse.
“Lakeisha took the Mercedes, she took the bus, she took money, what else was it? The motorcycle,” said LeSane. “There are so many things that she stole or forged documents for him. That’s considered elder abuse. We’re just putting all of it together, it’s a lot. This whole situation has been frustrating.”
Williams reportedly confirmed his son’s accusations against Graham but praised her parenting abilities.
“She took everything,” said Williams. “But I think she’s a very good mom. Junior is in school right now, he’s doing extraordinarily well.”
Graham seemingly admitted to falsifying the documents in a Palm Beach County Court but claimed she did so because she and her son were without money and food. “It was my son and I not getting any money, so I had to sell it so I can eat and my son can eat.”
Williams told the outlet he was ready for the divorce to be final.
