Former Seattle area real estate broker sentenced to prison for fraud on investors and the IRS

Seattle – A former real estate professional who operated a real estate investment fund was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 55 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and tax fraud, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Tamara King, aka Tamara Waln, 56, of Toledo, Ohio, previously resided in Bellevue and Kirkland, Washington. King was convicted in December 2025 following an 8-day jury trial. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez noted that King refuses to accept responsibility for her actions saying, “King testified falsely, she deliberately lied on the witness stand… She was the primary instigator of this fraud… for the most base motivation of all: pure greed.”

“This defendant stole from those who invested not just their money, but their dreams of a secure retirement,” said First Assistant Neil Floyd. “To this day she tries to blame others for her conduct that resulted in convictions for 14 federal felonies. This significant prison time should send a message to other fraudsters that we will investigate and hold defendants accountable.”

“For a decade, investors thought they were prudently saving their hard-earned money for retirement through a real estate fund operated by King and her husband,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Instead, Ms. King drained the account to fund her lavish lifestyle. The FBI and our partners will carefully follow the money to ensure fraudsters are held accountable for their greed and the damage it causes.”

According to records filed in the case, between August 2009 and December 2013, King’s now ex-husband and co-conspirator Paul Waln, 60, 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 told investors their funds would be pooled to purchase and renovate an apartment building in West Seattle and then used for other real estate projects. Investors were required to leave their money in the investment pool for ten years. Waln said that at the end of the 10-year period, Waln would return the investment principal and earnings, which he estimated amount to a 20 percent annual return. Waln was entitled to receive a 1% 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. Much of that money went to purchase big-ticket luxury items, and she purchased nearly all of those big-ticket items for herself, not Paul Waln.

For example, King financed the purchase of an early edition, Model X Tesla with customized pink trim for $121,950, and purchased a $49,300, 8.5 carat diamond ring. King used another $189,775 to pay back a personal tax debt. King employed her own personal assistant between May 2016 and 2019.

Waln and King were required to distribute the investment funds to investors in 2019. But 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.

Victims of the fraud described to the court how King’s theft impacted their lives: forcing them to delay retirements, stress over the cost of care for disabled spouses, and made them ashamed that they had been deceived. One wrote, “Tamara King stole that money and had cosmetic procedures. She stole that money and bought a car much nicer than we ever had. She stole that money and lived in a home twice as large as we’ve ever been able to afford. She stole that money and paid her credit card bills from a very extravagant lifestyle. We don’t believe for one minute that she is remorseful or that she will not do it again. Her arrogance and callous, self-centered nature enable her to believe she can get away with anything.”

King also failed to report over $1.6 million in income over three tax years. For those three tax years, King reported $188,116 in total income, when she actually received $1.85 million. The tax loss to the U.S. is $551,758.

“Without considering the harm inflicted on her victims, Ms. King fraudulently spent investor funds to support her lavish lifestyle instead of funding the promised real estate projects,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. “IRS-CI is committed to protecting our communities from the devastating effects of financial crime, and we will continue to bring criminals and fraudsters like Ms. King to justice.”

The jury convicted King of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and three counts of filing a false tax return.

King’s co-defendant Paul Waln, 60, now of Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty to the wire fraud conspiracy in June 2025 and was sentenced to 33 months in prison on October 31, 2025.

In asking for a 92-month sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “She showed an utter lack of respect for the law by giving false, and indeed incredible, testimony to the jury for hours. The sentence must be sufficient to deter others from giving false testimony, and also to promote respect for the law by showing there are severe consequences for lying on the stand.”

King will be on three years of supervised release following her prison term. Judge Martinez scheduled a hearing on July 24, 2026, to determine restitution and forfeiture of assets.

The case was investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson, Cindy Chang, and Jehiel Baer.