Paul Waln launched Halcyon, a real estate investment fund, in August 2009 to solicit investments to purchase and renovate a West Seattle apartment building along with other real estate projects. The rules were simple: Investors had to leave their money in the pool for 10 years, after which Waln would return the principal and earnings, which were projected to be about 20 percent annually.
Only, when 2019 rolled around, the money was gone. Waln and now ex-wife Tamara King had spent the entire fund on personal expenses.
Waln — a Dallas-based real estate professional — and King were charged this week by the federal grand jury for conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering. According to a news release, acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said the pair are scheduled to appear on the indictment on October 12.
Secret Loans
According to the indictment, between August 2009 and December 2013, Waln solicited investments in a real estate fund called Halcyon. Twenty-two victims, most of whom were Seattle residents, invested $2.25 million in the fund. Waln was entitled to receive a 1 percent fee for managing the investment fund.
In 2013, Waln married King, who was also a real estate agent. Waln and King then jointly managed the investment fund. Between February 2014 and December 2018, they conspired to misappropriate money from the fund to pay their 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.”
Under the terms of the investment, Waln and King were required to distribute the investment funds to investors in 2019. But by the end of 2018, they had misappropriated all the money. In December 2018, Waln sent investors a letter falsely claiming that the fund’s general contractor had been diagnosed with cancer. Waln told investors that this would result in a two-to-three-year delay before he would be able to return investors’ money. The contractor in question never had a cancer diagnosis.
Finally, in October 2019, King informed the investors that all the money was gone, and the investment had failed. All the remaining investors lost their entire investments.
Charges And Allegations
The defendants are 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 20 years in prison. The case is being investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson.
According to the Tarrant County Appraisal District, Paul Waln owns the home at 1712 Buckingham Drive inside the upscale luxury subdivision The Manors at Waterford. The home was on and off the market between May of 2021 and last month. The stone-embellished Tudor was built in 2005 and has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, five fireplaces, and 6,088 square feet. It was most recently on the market for the exact amount that Waln and King allegedly defrauded from investors — $2.25 million.
Indictment of Paul Waln and Tamara King by Jo Jemison England on Scribd
