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'RHOBH' Star Kyle Richards' Husband Sued for Fraud in $32 Million Malibu Mansion Sale

Home / The Law / 'RHOBH' Star Kyle Richards' Husband Sued for Fraud in $32 Million Malibu Mansion Sale

By TheBlast Staff on March 13, 2019 at 11:08 PM EDT

"Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Kyle Richards' husband, Mauricio Umansky, is facing more trouble over the sale of a $32 million Malibu mansion, with one of his former clients now slapping him with a federal lawsuit accusing him of fraud.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Umansky and his real estate company, The Agency, are being sued by Sweetwater Malibu LLC, the company that owned the home at the center of the lawsuit.

The mansion had been seized by the United States government from Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who allegedly used funds stolen from his home country Equatorial Guinea (Mangue is the son of the president).

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Umansky sold the home to a man named Mauricio Oberfeld for $32.5 million. The sale was approved by the United States Government. However, the seller accuses Umansky of failing to inform him that prior to the sale, Umansky received much higher side-offers. Umansky also allegedly never disclosed he had partnered with the buyer to purchase the property.

Umansky sold the home for $69.9 million a year later, at a profit of $37 million.

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In the newly filed lawsuit, Sweetwater Malibu says, "This case involves brazen breaches of fiduciary duties by a high-end real estate broker and his firm the Agency, who were hired to sell a multi-million-dollar Malibu estate owned by Sweetwater."

The docs say every real estate broker owes certain duties to their clients but accuses Umansky and The Agency of having "violated virtually every one of these duties, by engaging in blatant acts of self-dealing, earning secret profits, and both failing to disclose and outright misrepresenting material facts.”

The suit is seeking unspecified damages along with punitive damages.

Back in October, Umansky and The Agency — and his insurance company, Western World Insurance — dismissed a separate lawsuit over the $32 million home sale.

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Umansky was sued by his insurance company, Western World, who wanted the court to order they didn’t have to pay for his legal bills relating to a dispute between Umansky and the seller of the Malibu home (aka Sweetwater Malibu), claiming he had breached their contract.

Kyle Richards' husband then counter-sued the insurance company and accused them of taking the side of the seller in the dispute over the sale. He denied all allegations of wrongdoing or that he breached their deal. He demanded Western World’s lawsuit against him not move forward until the outcome of the issue with the seller.

Umansky denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said the entire transaction was subject to terms of a settlement agreement between the seller and the United States Government.

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